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The  Slaves  of  Schellal,  Morocco. 


AFRICA    ILLUSTRATED 


BY 


WM.  R.  SMITH,  LLD.,  D.D. 


ILLUSTRATED 


BY 


THE     MOST     EMINENT     ARTISTS 


NEW    YORK: 

A.  W.  LOVERING,    Publisher 


COPYRIGHT,    l88g,    BV   G.    B. 


0^ 


MOROCCO. 

PAGE 

The  Slaves  of  Schellal,   Mt)ROCCo  .    .    .    Fronts. 

Head-Piece 5 

Tangier,  seen   from   the   Sea 7 

Initial  Design 7 

A  Moorish  Plowman 8 

A  Moorish  Shop 9 

A  Bride   conducted  to   the   House   of  her 

Husband 10 

Moorish   Lovers 11 

A  Moorish    Interior 13 

The  City  of  Fez 15 

Scene  in  Fez 17 

The  Gate  Bab-el-Maroc,  Fez 19 

On  the  Terraces 21 

Mekinez 22 

Cemetery  at  Mogador 23 

ALGERIA. 

The  City  of  Tlemcen 25 

The  Ksar  of  T.\djerouna 26 

Reception  in  the  House  of  Death  ....  27 

Kabyle  Family  on  the  Way  to   Market  .    .  28 

Kabyles  seeking  Refuge  in  a  Cave  ....  30 

Saloon  OF  Trophies,  Palace  of  Constantine  31 

Fathma,   Daughter  of  the  Bey 32 

Bathing  at  the  Palace  of  Constantine    .    .  33 

ALGERIA-TUNIS. 

Moorish   Cafe  at  Sidi-bon-Said,  near  Tunis  34 

Carthage ; 36 

Salambo 37 

The  Bardo,  Government  Buildings,  Tunis  .  38 

Dancing-Girl   in    a   Cafe 39 


TRIPOLI,   FEZZAN,  SOUDAN. 

PAGE 

Off   the    Coast  of  Tripoli 40 

Tripoli,  from  the  North 41 

Well  for   Irrigation  in  the  Mesheea  ...  42 

Drinkers  of  Laqby 43 

The  Hills  of  Barca,  (Ancient  Cyrenaica)  .  44 

Evening  in   Barca 45 

The   Oasis  of   Asben 47 

View  of   Kano 49 

EGYPT. 

Cleopatra.     From  the  Painting  by  Cabanel  50 

Ancient  .Alexandria 51 

Cleopatra.     From  the  Painting  by  Makart  52 

Village  in   the   Delta 53 

The   North-Wind  on   the   Nile 54 

Works  of  the  Suez  Canal  Company,  Port  Said  55 

Panoraivla.  of  the  Isthmus  of  Suez  (with  key)  56 

Village   of    Tel-el-Kebir 57 

A  Cat-Father   on  a  Pilgrimage  to  Mecca  .  59 

In  the  Bazars,  Cairo 60 

General  View   of   Cairo 61 

Schoolmaster  of  Cairo 62 

Arab  Conversation 63 

Abyssinian    Female  Slave 64 

Wedding  Procession  at  Cairo 65 

Ghizeh,  between  the  Nile  and  Pyramids  .    .  66 

Grand  Gallery  in  the  Great. Pyr.\mid  ...  67 

Island  of  Phil.e.     The  Temple  of  Isis  ...  68 
Head    of    Queen    Nefer-t-ari.      From   the 

Temple  Abu  Simbel 70 

Greater  Temple  at  Abu  Simbel,  South  Side  .  71 

Rameses  and  Anukeh.     From  Bait-el- Wali  .  72 

The  Statue  of  Memnon  and  its  Companion  73 

Rubbish-Bearer,  Abydos 74 

5 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

HUFKALOES   WATEKKD   IN    THK    NiLE 76 

Jl'nchon  of  the  \VHnE  and  Bme  Niles  .    .      77 
Hauung  a  Steamer  throuch  ihe  Vegetation      79 

In  the  Grassv  Region 81 

ABVvSSINIA. 

WaTER-CaKRIKR,    MONKOl'LLO ^•'S 

The   Imperial  Palace  at  Gonuar 85 

Mr.  Stern  and  King  Theddore 87 

WdMEN    grinding    GRAIN    FOR    PRISONERS  ...  89 

•The  March  of  the  English  Army  .        ...  90 
ZAXZIH.\R,   THE   EAST   COAST,   Etc. 

MOMHASA 91 

Zanzibar,  from  the  Sea 93 

Ladha-Ramji,  Indian  Merchant  at  Zanzibar  94 

The  Slave-Market  at  Zanzibar 95 

Killing    Exhausted  Slaves 97 

Gate  of  a  Village 98 

Island  of  the  Bridge,  Victoria  N'vanza  .    .      99 

"We  went  at  a  Devil  of  a  Pace"  ....  100 

Nocturnal  Hunt loi 

Antananarivo,  the  Capital  of  Madagascar  103 

CAPE   COLONIES. 

View  of   Cape   Town 104 

In  the  Draki.nstein  Mountains 105 

At  the  Bottom  of  the  Kimberley  Mine  .    .  107 

'I'hf  Vivkvakd^  of  Constance 108 

HOTTENTOT,  GABOON. 

French  Seitlement  on  the  Gaboon  ....  109 

Women  of  the  Fan  Tribe no 

Young  Fetish  Boy  of  the  Lake  Ionanca  .    .  in 

YoNDoc.owiRo,  King  of  the  Sacred  Islands  .  112 

Encampment  of  Slaves  among  the  Okanda  .  113 

Okanda  Woman  at  her   Toilette 114 


GULNEA,  DAHOMEY. 

The  Temple  of  Serpents  at  Whydah 
Palace  of  the  King  of  Dahomey  .    . 
Hare.m  of  the   King   of   Dahomey  .    . 
Young   Girls  of  the  Grand   Bassam  . 
General  View  of  Timbuktu 


SENEGAMBIA. 
Sn.NARE  AND  Slaves  at  the  Sea-Baths,  Saint- 


Louis 


The  Bridge  of  Sor,  Saint- Loris 123 

Fort  Bakel,  Senegal  River 124 

Young  Woman  of  the  SoNiNKfe 125 

The  Butcher  Shops  at  Yamina 126 

The  House  of  Samba  N'diave,  at  Sego  .    .    .  127 

Women  of  the  Macina  Tribe 128 


"5 
i'7 
118 
119 
120 


122 


PAGE 

F"rek  Town,  hie  Capital  of  Sierra  Leone  .  129 

A    Kroo.man  Village 130 

.\   Fetish  Woman 131 

THE    DESERT. 

Date-Palm    in    Oasis 133 

Night  in  the  Desert 134 

KoRosKO,  ON  the   Nile 135 

Mirage  in  the  Desert — Mountains  of  Lime- 
si  one   136 

Protecting   the   Crops 137 

Relay  of  Hunting-Dogs  in  the  Desert  .    .    .  138 

A  Convoy  of   Captives 139 

The  Slave  March;  The  Abandoned  Mother  140 

EXPLORATIONS. 

The  Hombori   Mountains 141 

Niam-Niam  Hamlet 142 

Niam-Niam  Warrior  . 144 

Tail  of  the  Niam-Niam 145 

Louba,  Young  Girl  of  the  Niam-Niam  .    .    .  146 

Monbuttoo   Man   and  Woman 147 

Children   of   the   Kvtch   Tribe 148 

His  Majesty,  King  Katchiba,  on  his  Travels  149 

Sir  Samuel  Baker  on  Lake  Albert  Nyanza     .  150 
Df.monstration  in  Honor  of  Lady  Baker  on 

her  Return 152 

Sir  Samuel   and   Lady   Baker   crossing   the 

Desert 154 

Hunting   Elephants  with    the   Sword  .    .    .  156 

Leopard  Hunting 158 

The  Gratitude  of  the  Bari  Women  ....  160 

Bongo  Women 162 

Bushmen  Women 164 

Belles  of  King  Shinte's  Court 166 

The  Victoria  Falls  of  the  Zambesi  ....  168 
Makolo  Women   constructing    Huts;    Chil- 
dren PLAYING 170 

Boys'  Sports,  Central  Africa 172 

The  Queen   Moeri 174 

The  Tembe,  seen  from  above 176 

The   Capital  of  Mtesa 178 

The  Hot  Springs  of  Mtag.\ta 180 

Mounts    Mtommhoua,  Kateye  and    Kapemm- 

BOUA,  Lake  Tanganyika 183 

Stanley's    Fight   at   the   Junction    of   the 

Congo  with  the  Arouhouimi 184 

Portage  around  the  Falls  of  Innkissi  .    .    .  186 

Manyema  Village 188 

House  in  Lake  Mohrya igo 

The  Pearls  of  the  Bride 193 

The  Magicians ig6 

The  Slaves  of  Coimrra 108 

Women  of  Kammbala   hreaking   Grain  ...  199 

Dress  of  a  Negress ; Title 

Tail-Piece 200 


.^^ 


Tangier,  seen  from  the  Sea. 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


T' 


all    the 


^HE   Straits  of  Gibraltar  are   perhaps   among 

straits  of  the  world  those  which  separate  decisively 
two  countries  the  most  completely  dissimilar.  On  the 
northern  shore  the  traveller,  from  any  quarter  of  Europe 
or  America,  finds  himself  still  in  a  country  which  reminds 
him  more  or  less  of  his  own.  The  visages,  the  costumes, 
the  habitations,  are  still  like  those  to  which  he  has  been 
accustomed ;  three  hours  southward  and  everj'thing  is 
changed.  The  names  of  these  continents  have  already 
become  strange  and  distant,  their  civilization  is  ignored 
or  feared,  Christian  means  enemy;  from  the  primary 
elements  of  social  life  to  the  most  insignificant  details 
of  private  life,  nothing  testifies  to  the  neighborhood  of 
Europe.  The  traveller  finds  himself  in  an  unknown 
country  where  ever>'thing  is  for  him  to  learn  anew. 
From  the  shore  he  may  still  perceive  the  European 
coast,  but  he  experiences  a  sensation  of  immeasurable 
removal,  as  if  this  narrow  ann  of  the  sea  were  an  ocean 
and  the  distant  blue  mountains  a  mirage.  In  the  space 
of  three  hours  he  has  accomplished  the  most  marvelous 
transformation  possible  on  this  earth. 

This  great  division  of  the  globe  upon  which  he  has 
set  foot  is  almost  the  only  land  of  nnstery  left  on  this 
much-explored  world.  The  all-but-attained  North  Pole 
and  the  twenty  degrees  of  desolation  that  defend  the  Southern,  are  the  only  other  unconquerable 
regions.  The  mystery  of  the  African  continent,  however,  has  been  much  diminished  in  modern 
times  by  the  enterprise  of  explorers,  the  zeal  of  missionaries,  the  perseverance  of  commercial 
speculation  and  the  military  aggressions  of  Europeans.  These  discoveries  have  been  much 
facilitated  by  the  nearness  of  Africa  to  Europe.     Its  most  remote  harbors  are  almost  as  near  as 


8 


AFRICA   ILL  US TRA  TED. 


North  America,  nearer  than  Brazil  and  much  nearer  than  British  India  before  the  Suez  Canal. 
A  sailing  vessel  from  Bristol  can  reach  the  river  Senegal  in  about  t%veut\-  days,  Sierra  Leone  m 
thirty.  Cape  Coast  in  tlnrt>-five.  and  the  Congo  in  fifty.     Steam  communication,  of  course,  is 

far  more  rapid. 

Africa  is  the  second,  in  point  of  size,  of  the  great  divisions,  but  by  far  the  least  important 
as  regards  the  civilization  and  progress  of  the  human  species— Egypt,  Carthage  and  the  Moors 
not\v?thstanding.  It  is  bounded  on  all  sides  by  the  sea,  and  since  the  excavation  of  the  canal 
through  the  Isthmus  of  Suez,  by  which  it  was  formerly  connected  with  Asia,  is  completely 
insular.  It  extends  through  more  than  seventy-two  degrees  of  latitude  from  Cape  Blanco  in 
37°  20'  N.  to  Cape  Aguilhas  in  34°  50'  S.,  and  through  nearly  sixty-nine  degrees  of  longitude, 
from  Cape  Verde  in  17°  34'  W.  to  Cape  Guardafui  in  51°  16'  E.  The  distance  between  the  two 
former  points  is  about  5000,  and  that  between  the  two  latter  about  4800  miles.  The  total  area, 
including  the  islands,  is  estimated  at  about  11,550,000  square  miles,  or  almost  exactly  three 
times  as  great  as  that  of  Europe ;  the  three  continents  of  the  Old  World,  Europe,  Africa  and 
•Asia,  being  proportioned  to  one  another,  in  respect  of  area,  as  42,  128  and  191,  the  area  of 
Great  Britain  being  taken  as  unit>-.  Two-thirds  of  the  area  of  Africa  belong  to  the  northern 
hemisphere.  The  coast-line  is  more  regular  than  that  of  any  of  the  five  continents  of  the 
world.     Its  total  length,  estimated  at  16,000  miles,  is  one-fifth  less  than  that  of  Europe,  or  in 


A  Moorish  Plowman. 


other  words,  Africa  has  only  one  mile  of  coast  for  every  720  square  miles  of  surface,  while 
Europe  has  one  mile  of  coast  for  every  190  square  miles. 

The  north-western  extremity  of  this  great  continent,  upon  which  we  will  suppose  our  traveller 
to  have  first  landed,  is  known  as  the  empire  of  Marocco,  or  Morocco,  the  ancient  Mauretania. 
It  is  known  to  its  inhabitants  only  by  its  Arabic  name,  Maghrib-el-Aksa,  the  E.xtreme  West,  or 
briefly  Maghrib ;  in  Algiers  it  is  called  El  Carb,  the  West.  Its  boundaries  towards  the  desert 
are,  like  those  of  the  other  States  of  Northern  Africa,  very  indefinite.  Large  tracts  in  this 
quarter  are  quite  uninhabitable,  and  even  in  the  habitable  regions,  in  which  nomadic  tribes 
herd  their  flocks,  the  tribute  claimed  from  them  by  the  ruler  of  Morocco  is  very  irregularly  paid, 
so  that  the  authority  of  that  ruler  is  scarcely  more  than  nominal  over  nearly  two-thirds  of  the 
area  a.ssigned  as  his  dominions.  The  whole  of  that  area,  including  the  Oasis  of  Twat  in  the 
south-east  (lat.  27°  N.),  which  stands  to  Morocco  in  a  very  loose  political  relation,  is  given  as 
about  313,000  square  miles  by  soTue  authorities  and  as  about  230,000  by  others.  The  estimates 
of  the  population  var>-  from  2,750,000  to  8,500,000.  The  region  of  accurate  statistics  has  been 
left  north  of  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar. 

At  the  present  day  Morocco  includes  the  three  former  kingdoms  of  Maghrib,  Fez  and  Tafi- 
lelet ;  the  geographers  have  given  it  a  nominal  bomidary  on  the  south  by  a  line  which  runs  from 
Cape  Nun  (lat.  28°  45'  43"  N.)  in  an  easterly  direction  through  the  Sahara  to  the  Algerian 
frontier  in  long.  2°  E.     The  maritime  region,  sometimes  called  as  in  Algeria  the  Tell,  has  an 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


area  of  about  76,000  square  miles  and  contains  at  least  five-sixths  of  the  total  population,  the 
density  being  about  seventy  to  the  square  mile.  The  inhabitant^,  like  those  of  the  North 
African  States  generally,  consist  of  pure  Berbers — here  known  as  Amazirghi,  pure  Arabs,  mixed 
Arabs  and  Berbers— the  race  generally  known  as  Moors,  Jews  and  negroes  from  Central  Africa, 
as  well  as  mixed  offspring  of  Berbers  and  negroes,  the  last  generally  sprung  from  the  harems 
of  the  great,  since  the  common  Arab  seldom  marries  a  woman  of  negro  race,  and  the  Berber 
would  disdain  to  do  so.  In  physical  appearance  the  pure  Berber  and  the  pure  Arab  have  a 
strong  resemblance  to  each  other.  Both  have  a  somewhat  bronzed  complexion,  a  European 
type  of  face  with  little  beard,  and  both  are  of  slender,  sinewy,  muscular  frame.  What  chiefly 
distinguishes  them  is  their  language,  although  each  has  naturalh'  borrowed  a  good  many  words 
from  the  other.  The  language  of  the  Berbers  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  Tuaregs  of  Sahara,  and 
is  heard  even  in  the  Oasis  of  Jupiter  Amnion ;  but  the  Berbers  of  Morocco  have  no  alphabet, 
which  has  long  been  possessed  .by  the  Tuaregs.  The  IMoors  form  the  most  numerous  portion 
of  the  population  and  are  the  dominant  race  ;  next  to  them  are  the  Berbers,  including  those  of 
the  Riff  coast,  and  the  Shelluhs  of  the  Great  Atlas.  Very  few  Europeans  reside  in  Morocco ; 
excepting  them  and  the  few  Jews,  the  whole  population  is  IMohammedan.  The  state  of  civili- 
zation is  very  low,  and  many  of  the  Amazirghi, 
or  Amaziyehs,  are  complete  savages.  The  negroes 
are  generally  brought  into  the  country  as  slaves 
from  the  Soudan.  The  Jews,  which  number  in 
all  perhaps  200,000,  are  a  despised  and  oppressed 
race  generally,  and  are  mostly  confined  to  certain 
quarters  (rnilhas)  in  all  the  towns,  as  they  were  in 
most  parts  of  Europe  during  the  Middle  Ages 
and,  till  recently,  in  other  parts  of  Northern 
Africa.  Some  of  them  are  descended  from  those 
who  in  former  times  were  driven  out  of  Spain, 
and  by  them  Spanish  is  still  spoken,  by  the  others 
only  Arabic,  or  sometimes  the  language  of  the 
Berbers. 

Morocco  is  divided  into  four  territories — Fez, 
Morocco,  Suse  and  Tafilelet.  For  convenience 
of  administration  the  empire  is  subdivided  into 
thirty-three  governments  or  districts  {amniald), 
each  under  the  superintendence  of  a  "caid, " 
whose  chief  duty  it  is  to  collect  the  imposts ;  but 
the  semi-independent  tribes  are  ruled  by  their 
own  chiefs  and  scarcely  acknowledge  the  authority 

of  the  sultan.  The  government  is  purely  despotic,  and  in  the  absence  of  written  laws  the  will 
of  the  sultan  and  his  subordinates  decides  everj'thing.  The  public  officials  eke  out  their  allow- 
ances by  practising  extortion  on  those  under  their  charge,  and  are  in  turn  plundered  by  their 
superiors.  The  sovereign,  called  by  Europeans  the  Emperor  of  Morocco,  is  known  among  his 
subjects  as  sultan,  and  assumes  the  titles  of  Eiiiir-nl-ntiimciiin,  or  Prince  of  the  Believers,  and 
Khalifeh-allah-fichalkihi,  or  Vicegerent  of  God  upon  Earth.  He  is  ordinarily  called  by  his 
subjects  simply  Seid-na^  our  Lord.  He  is  absolute  in  the  strictest  sense  ;  the  lives  and  properties 
of  his  subjects  are  at  his  disposal ;  from  him  alone  proceed  the  laws,  which  he  makes  and 
unmakes  at  his  pleasure.  The  imperial  revenues  are  derived  from  arbitrary  imposts  on  property, 
from  duties  on  imports  and  exports,  from  monopolies  and  from  fines  or  confiscations.  The 
sultan's  title  is  hereditary  in  the  male  line,  but  does  not  necessarily  descend  to  the  eldest  son. 
The  military  force  maintained  by  the  sovereign  does  not  ordinarily  exceed  20,000  men,  of  whom 
half  are  blacks.  There  is  also  a  sort  of  militia,  amounting  to  80,000  or  100,000  men,  which  is 
occasionally  called  out.  The  navy  is  now  insignificant ;  but  in  former  times,  especially  in  the 
sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  it  was  very  fonnidable  to  the  maritime  powers  of  Europe,  and 
was  chiefly  occupied  in  piratical  expeditions.  Spain  has  for  centuries  possessed  in  Morocco  four 
strongly  fortified  places,  the  so-called  Presidios,  Centa,  Penon  de  Velez,  Alhucemas  and  Melila. 


A  MooKisH  Shop. 


lO 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


The  education  eiven  at  the  schools  in  the  chief  towns,  and  con.pleted  at  the  University  of 
Fez  dLf  no  go  fevond  the  theology  of  the  Koran.  The  public  Hbranes,  once  f-nous  a  e 
now  diTpirscd;  true  science  is  unknown;  and  whatever  monuments  of  art  are  to  be  found  m 


the  country  puiiu  to  the  time  when  literature  and  art  flourished  iinder  the  Arabian  dynasties  in 
Spain.  Music  is  the  only  art  for  which  the  Moors  are  said  to  manifest  a  decided  taste,  but  they 
have  not,  as  yet,  arrived  at  any  proficiency  in  it.     The  art  of  printing  is  unknown ;  the  only 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


II 


Moorish  Lovers. 


industrial  arts  prosecuted  to  any  considerable  extent  are  the  manufactures  of  caps,  fine  silks  and 
leather,  which,  in  the  towns,  still  preserve  their  old  celebrity.  Fez  makes  and  exports  great 
quantities  of  the  red  cloth  caps,  which  bear  the  name  of  the  city  and  which  are  so  universally 
worn  in  Turkey.  The  tanners  of  Mekinez  have  a  great  reputation  ;  and  those  of  Morocco  can 
render  any  kind  of  skin  as  white  and  as  soft  as  silk  by  means,  it  is  said,  of  two  plants  unknown 
to  Europeans.  In  the  production  of  brilliant  colors  in  leather  the  Moors  also  excel ;  of  the  fine 
Morocco  leather,  Fez  furnishes  the  red,  Tafilelet  the  green,  and  the  city  of  Morocco  the  yellow. 
The  Morocco  carpets,  so  much  esteemed  in  Europe,  are  made  chiefly  in  the  province  of  Ducalla. 
The  commerce  of  Morocco  is  carried  on  by  means  of  the  caravans  to  Mecca,  which  have  at  once 
a  mercantile  and  a  religious  character ;  with  Soudan  or  Negroland  across  the  Great  Desert,  and 
by  the  maritime  trade  with  European  States.  Mules,  horses  and  camels  furnish  the  internal 
means  of  transport.  Much  of  the  Arabian  trade  is  carried  on  by  means  of  coasting  vessels 
between  Tangier  and  Egypt,  as  the  carriage  across  the  desert  is  very  costly.  At  the  present 
day,  two-thirds  of  the  entire  trade  of  Morocco  is  in  the  hands  of  British  merchants.     From  the 


,a  AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 

East  are  brought  silks,  perfumes,  spices,  cotton,  etc.,  for  which  are  exchanged  cochineal,  indigo, 
skins,  fine  leatlier,  woollen  cloths  and  ostrich  feathers.  From  the  Soudan  are  obtained  ivorj-, 
gold-dust,  ostrich  feathers,  asafcetida,  gums,  Guinea  pepper,  indigo  and  slaves.  Five  cities, 
Fez,  Morocco,  Mekinez,  Rabat  and  Tetewan  or  Tetuan,  have  mints  and  coin  gold,  silver  and 
copper.  Morocco  is  supposed  to  be  rich  in  mineral  treasures ;  plentiful  supplies  of  copper  are 
obtained  at  Tcselcgat ;  near  the  source  of  the  Assaker,  iron  and  lead  are  present  in  abundance ; 
antimony,  silver  and  gold  are  also  found — the  gold  in  the  rivers  of  the  south,  and  among  other 
mineral  products  are  sulphur,  saltpetre,  salt  and  fuller' s-earth. 

The  sherifs,  or  descendants  of  Mohammed,  are  here  a  peculiarly  privileged  class,  almost  as 
much  so  as  at  Mecca  itself.  The  high-sherif,  "the  Morocco  pope,"  has  his  residence  at  Wazan. 
The  majoritv  of  the  villages  are  composed  of  tents,  and  are  then  called  duars,  villages  of  houses 
being  distinguished  as  chars.  The  tents  are  made  of  camel's  hair  or  the  fibres  of  the  dwarf- 
palm,  and  in  form  resemble  a  gable-roof,  which  is  no  doubt  the  same  form  as  those  of 
ancient  Numidia,  which  Sallust  likened  to  inverted  ships.  The  position  of  women  among  the 
Berbers  of  Morocco  is  a  higher  one  than  among  the  Arabs,  but  throughout  the  empire  the  women 
go  unveiled  and  are  subject  to  fewer  restraints  than  in  many  other  Mohammedan  countries. 
Monogamy  is  the  rule,  polygamy  a  rare  exception.  Owing  to  the  character  of  the  country  and 
its  thin  population  Morocco  is  much  infested  with  wild  animals ;  lions,  panthers,  hyenas,  wild- 
boars,  and  various  kinds  of  deer,  gazelles,  etc.,  abound  in  suitable  localities,  and  occasional 
devastations  are  committed  by  locusts.  Ostriches  are  found  in  Tafilelet.  The  Moorish  horses, 
formerly  so  famous,  are  now  much  degenerated.  The  breeding  of  sheep,  oxen,  goats,  camels, 
mules  and  asses,  forms  an  important  item  of  national  industry.  Oxen  and  bulls  are  chiefly 
employed  in  field  labor,  but  an  Italian  traveller  relates  that  in  his  explorations  around  the  city 
of  Tangier  he  saw,  on  the  only  occasion  on  which  he  did  see  any  agricultural  labor  going  on,  an 
Arab  urging  over  his  field  a  goat  and  a  donkey  attached  to  a  very  small  plow,  "of  a  grotesque 
shape,  constructed  after  the  mode  of  those  of  four  thousand  years  ago,  and  which  traced  a  scarcely 
visible  furrow  in  his  field  sown  with  stones  and  weeds."  It  is  related  that  it  was  formerly  a  not 
unusual  sight  to  see  a  woman  and  an  ass  harnessed  to  a  plow.  The  only  manure  generally  used 
is  the  ashes  of  the  straw  burned  after  the  harvest,  and  the  only  precaution  taken  to  prevent  the 
exhaustion  of  the  soil  is  to  let  it  go  into  grass  the  third  year,  after  having  been  sown  with  grain 
and  maize  the  two  previous  years.  Despite  this  measure  the  soil  is  impoverished  after  each  crop, 
and  tlie  nomad  agriculturists  abandon  it  after  a  few  seasons  for  new  fields,  which  in  their  turn 
are  forsaken  for  the  first  ones  again.  Consequently  there  is  only  a  small  portion  of  the  soil 
under  cultivation  at  a  time  in  each  district,  and  yet  the  soil,  it  is  said,  returns  a  hundred-fold 
the  seed  committed  to  it.  The  cereal  crops  are  durrah,  wheat,  barley  and  maize,  the  first- 
mentioned  constituting  the  chief  support  of  the  population,  though  beans,  the  esculent  arum, 
and  even  canary-seed  are  much  eaten  by  the  poorer  classes.  The  vine  grows  wild,  and  is  also 
cultivated  near  towns,  both  for  the  sake  of  the  fresh  grapes  and  raisins  and  for  the  sake  of  the 
wine,  in  the  use  of  which  the  people  are  apt  to  indulge  immoderately.  Tobacco,  hemp  and 
cotton  are  also  found,  both  wild  and  cultivated  ;  indigo  grows  wild,  and  the  other  vegetable  pro- 
ducts include  capers,  truffles  and  archil.  The  flora  of  Morocco  includes  the  esculent  oak  and 
cork  oak;  in  the  higher  regions  of  the  Atlas  the  cedar  and  Aleppo  pine,  with  many  varieties  of 
oxycedrus  and  juniper  yielding  fragrant  giims;  also  the  date-palm  and  the  dwarf-palm,  east  and 
south  of  the  Atlas;  and  the  argan,  a  tree  which  grows  in  south-western  Morocco  between  Wady 
Sus  and  Wady  Tensift,  and  nowhere  else  in  the  world,  and  which  yields  from  the  kernel  of  its 
fruit  an  oil. largely  consumed  b\-  the  inhabitants.  Its  timber  is  so  close  in  the  grain  as  to  sink 
in  water. 

The  seaport  at  which  our  travellers  generally  first  set  foot  on  the  soil  of  Morocco  and  of  Africa 
is  that  of  Tangier,  on  a  small  bay  or  inlet  of  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar,  thirty-eight  miles  south- 
west of  the  town  of  that  name.  It  is  a  .small  ill-built  town,  situated  on  two  hills;  the  houses— 
with  the  exception  of  the  residences  of  foreign  oflScials— being,  as  a  rule,  miserable  edifices  and 
the  streets  being  narrow  and  dirty  The  town  is  surrounded  by  old  walls  and  protected  by 
several  forts.  The  ancient  Tingis  it  has  been  successively  in  the  hands  of  the  Romans,  Vandals, 
Greeks,  Visigoths,  and  Arabs.  It  was  taken  by  the  Portuguese  in  147 1,  ceded  to  the  English  in 
1662  and  held  by  them  for  twenty-two  years,  but  was  abandoned  as  expensive  and  useless.     Our 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


13 


Italian  traveller,  already  quoted — Signer  Edmondo  de  Aniicis,  who,  in  1875,  accompanied  to  the 
capital  of  Morocco  the  first  Italian  embassy  ever  sent  there,  that  to  the  young  Sultan  Muley  el 
Hassan — thus  relates  his  first  experience  on  the  soil  of  Africa.  "The  emotion  which  one 
naturally  feels  in  setting  foot  for  the  first  time  on  this  immense  and  mysterious  continent,  which 
has  excited  our  imaginations  from  our  childish  days,  is  somewhat  enhanced  by  the  peculiar 
manner  in  which  one  is  brought  to  shore.  From  the  bridge  of  the  vessel  we  began  alread}'  to 
perceive  distinctly  the  white  walls  of  Tangier,  when  a  Spanish  lady  behind  me  exclaimed  in  an 
affrighted  voice,  'What  do  those  men  want?'  I  looked  in  the  direction  which  she  indicated  and 
saw,  behind  the  boats  which  were  approaching  for  the  passengers,  a  crowd  of  tattered  Arabs, 
half-naked,  wading  in  the  water  up  to  the  middle  of  their  thighs  and  advancing  towards  the 
vessel  with  the  gestures  and  cries  of  maniacs — just  like  a  troop  of  pirates  who  exclaim,  '  Here  is 
our  prey!'  Not  knowing  who  they  were,  nor  what  they  proposed,  I  descended  in  some  trepidation 
into  a  canoe  with  some  other  passengers.  When  we  were  still  some  twenty  paces  from  the  shore 
the  whole  of  this  terra-cotta-colored  horde  precipitated  itself  upon  us,  laid  hands  upon  us  and 
proceeded  to  vociferate  in  Arabic  and  in  Spanish  until  we  managed  to  comprehend  that,  the  tide 
being  too  low  to  permit  us  to  approach  closer,  it  was  necessary  for  us  to  finish  the  voyage  upon 
their  shoulders.  This  infonnation  dissipated  our  fears  of  being  plundered,  but  awoke  strong 
apprehensions  of  being  invaded  by  vermin.  The  ladies  were  transported,  as  in  a  triumph,  in 
chairs ;  as  for  myself,  I  made  my  entry  into  Africa  astride  of  an  old  mulatto,  my  chin  on  top  of 
his  head  and  the  bottom  of  my  feet  in  the  water. ' ' 


A  Moorish  Interior. 


,^  AFRICA  ILLUSTRATED. 

The  traveller  Roes  on  to  relate  his  first  impressions  of  the  country,  after  his  Arab  porter  had 
safelv  deposited  him  upon  the  shore,  and  his  experiences  may  be  taken  as  a  type  of  those  of 
other  Furopeans,  fiudin-  themselves  for  the  first  time  in  this  land  of  strangeness.  The  populace 
in  the  streets  presented  themselves  to  his  view  all  enveloped  in  a  sort  of  long,  white,  woollen 
cloak  with  a  large  cowl,  generally  straight  up  upon  the  head,  so  that  the  whole  city  presented 
the  asjiect  of  a  convent  of  Dominican  monks.  Of  this  hooded  population,  some  passed  gravely, 
slowly  and  silentlv,  as  though  thex-  were  endeavoring  to  esc&pe  notice ;  others  remained  seated 
or  crouching  along  the  walls,  in  the  shops  or  at  the  corners  of  the  houses,  immovable  and  with 
fixed  eyes,  like  the  enchanted  folk  of  the  Arabian  Nights.  The  carriage,  the  gestures,  the 
manner  of  looking,  were  all  entirely  novel— everything  denoted  an  order  of  sentiments,  of 
usages  completelv  different  from  those  of  Europe,  a  radically  different  manner  of  considering  the 
great  matters  of  time  and  of  life.  This  people  seemed  to  entertain  no  special  interest  in  their 
own  affairs,  nor  in  the  place  in  which  they  found  themselves,  nor  of  that  which  was  passing 
around  them.  All  wore  on  their  countenances  an  expression  apparently  at  once  vague  and  pro- 
found, as  of  one  possessed  by  a  fixed  idea,  of  his  own  country,  or  of  ancient  times,  or  dreaming 
with  his  eyes  open.  At  the  same  time,  as  the  traveller  penetrates  into  tliis  crowd,  he  becomes 
aware  of  a  certain  odor  entirely  different  from  that  of  European  crowds,  very  peculiar,  not  at  all 
agreeable,  but  which  he  commences  to  accept  as  promising  him  the  solution  of  some  mystery. 
Moreover,  the  crowd,  which  at  a  distance  had  seemed  so  uniform  in  its  appearance,  now  betrays 
the  greatest  variety.  The  faces  are  black,  white,  yellowish  and  bronzed;  the  heads  are  orna- 
mented with  long  tufts  of  hair  or  shaven  close  and  glistening  like  metal;  there  are  figures  as 
dried  as  mummies,  old  men  whose  old  age  is  horrible,  women  with  their  faces  and  figures 
enveloped  in  a  formless  mass  of  rags,  and  children  with  long  tresses.  Visages  of  sultans,  of 
savages,  of  necromancers,  of  anchorites,  of  bandits,  of  souls  oppressed  by  an  unmeasurable 
sadness  or  bv  a  mortal  ennui;  very  few,  or  none  at  all,  seem  to  smile — all  follow,  one  after  the 
other,  silently,  slowly,  like  a  procession  of  spectres  through  the  alleys  of  a  cemetery. 

.  The  city  itself  is  a  labyrinth  of  narrow  streets,  or  rather  of  corridors  flanked  by  small  white 
houses,  without  windows  and  with  a  narrow  doorway  through  which  a  man  can  scarcely  enter ; 
houses  which  seem  constructed  rather  for  concealment  than  for  habitation  and  which  are  half- 
way between  a  convent  and  a  prison.  In  very  many  of  the  streets  nothing  is  to  be  seen  but  the 
whiteness  of  the  walls  and  the  blue  sky  overhead ;  occasionally  there  appears  a  Moorish  arcade, 
a  window  ornamented  with  arabesques,  a  band  of  red  at  the  foot  of  a  wall  or  a  hand  painted  in 
black  on  a  doorway  and  serving  to  drive  away  evil  influences.  Nearly  all  the  streets  are  littered 
with  rotting  vegetables,  with  feathers,  rags,  bones,  and  sometimes  with  deceased  cats  and  dogs 
that  help  to  poison  the  air.  At  long  inter\-als  may  be  encountered  some  group  of  Arab  children 
playing  or  chanting  in  na.sal  voices  verses  from  the  Koran,  a  squatting  beggar,  a  Moor  mounted 
on  a  mule,  an  overloaded  donkey  which  a  half-naked  Arab  overwhelms  with  blows,  some  mangy 
and  tailless  dogs  or  cats  of  an  extraordinary  leanness.  Here  and  there,  in  passing,  the  pedes- 
trian is  a.ssailed  by  an  odor  of  garlic,  of  the  smoke  of  krif^  of  burnt  aloes,  of  benzoin  or  of  fish. 
And  thus  it  is  throughout  the  entire  town,  the  same  dazzling  whiteness  and  the  same  aspect  of 
mystery,  of  melancholy  and  of  ennui. 

The  principal  square  of  Tangier  is  traversed  by  a  long  street  which  ascends  from  the  sea- 
landing  and  goes  the  entire  length  of  the  town.  The  square  is  a  little  rectangular  place, 
surrounded  by  shops  which  would  appear  mean  in  the  poorest  European  village.  At  one  side 
tlu-re  is  a  fountain,  around  which  is  always  a  crowd  of  Arabs  and  negroes  occupied  in  drawing 
water  in  various  vessels ;  at  the  other  may  be  found  all  day  long  eight  or  ten  women,  carefully 
veiled,  .seated  on  the  ground  and  offering  bread  for  sale.  In  the  vicinity  of  the  open  place  are 
situated  the  modest  houses  occupied  by  the  members  of  the  foreign  legations,  which,  however, 
have  the  appearance  of  palaces  in  the  midst  of  the  paltry-  dwellings  by  which  they  are  surrounded. 
In  this  narrow  place  congregates  the  entire  life  of  Tangier,  the  life  of  a  village.  Here  may  be 
found  the  only  tobacco-shop  in  the  town,  the  only  grocery,  the  only  cafe — wliich  is  merely  a 
poor  room  with  a  billiard-table,  and  the  only  spot  where  may  be  occasionally  seen  printed  notices 
posted  up.  Here  assemble  the  almost  naked  vagabonds,  the  rich  Moors  in  their  idleness,  the 
Jews  discussing  their  affairs,  the  Arab  porters  who  watch  for  the  arrival  of  the  steamer,  the 
employees  of  the  legations  awaiting  the  hour  of  dinner,  the  strangers  just  landed,  the  interpreters 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


15 


and  the  beggars.     Here  encounter  each  other  the  courier  who  arrives  from  Fez,  from  Mekinez 

or  from  Morocco,  with  the  orders  of  the  sultan,  and  the  servant  coming  from  the  post  with  the 

journals  of  London  or  Paris;  the  favorite  of  the  harem  and  the  wife  of  the  European  minister; 

the  camel  of  the  desert  and  the  lap-dog  of  the  saloons; 

the   turban  and  the  pot-hat ;    the  sounds  of  a  piano 

escaping  through  the  windows  of  a  consul's  house  and 

the  melancholy  call  to  prayer  from  the  mosque.     It  is 

the  spot  where  the  last  wave  of  European  civilization 

breaks  and  disappears  in  the  vast  dead  ocean  of  the 

barbarism  of  Africa.     In  fact,  Tangier  is  considered 

by  its  sister  cities  as  a  place  set  apart  and  profaned  by 

the  presence  of  Christians — even  though  all  traces  of 

the  churches  and  monasteries  founded  by  the  Portuguese 

have  disappeared  and  the  Christian  religion  is  there 

represented  only  by  one  or  two  small  chapels  in  the 

neighborhood  of  the  consular  dwellings. 

The  Moorish  shops,  like  those  of  Egypt  and  other 
Mohammedan  countries,  offer  a  singular  contrast  to 
those  of  Europeans.  They  are  nearly  always  a  species 
of  alcove,  elevated  about  a  yard  above  the  level  of  the 
footwalk,  with  a  single  opening  on  the  street  at  which 
the  customer  presents  himself  as  at  a  window.  The 
merchant,  seated  cross-legged  inside,  with  his  wares 
disposed  around  him,  rests  motionless  in  his  cell,  like  a 
statue  in  its  niche  or  like  a  specimen  curiosity  in  a 
booth  at  a  fair.  The  inquisitive  traveller  finds  himself 
speculating  as  to  whether  these  merchants  are  living 
or  merely  wooden;  where  is  the  mechanism  that  will 
presently  make  them  disappear.  They  seem  to  be 
able  to  pass  entire  hours,  days  even,  in  this  immobility 
and  silence — at  most  picking  at  a  chaplet  of  beads  or 
muttering  words  of  prayer.  Their  aspect  of  solitude, 
of  ennui,  of  sadness,  is  past  description;  it  might  be 
thought  that  each  of  these  shops  was  a  tomb  in  which 
the  owner,  having  renounced  the  world,  awaits  only 
the  inevitable  hour  of  death.  Our  illustration,  on 
page  9,  is  from  a  sketch  taken  in  Tangier,  but  the 
type  is  the  same  in  all  the  towns  of  Morocco. 

Another  of  the  "institutions"  of  this  strange  city 
and  country  is  illustrated  by  a  sketch  from  nature  in 
the  street  which  leads  to  the  gate  of  Sokko  from  Barra; 
the  silence  of  the  night  is  broken  by  the  sounds  of  a 
distant  fusilade  which  brings  the  inhabitants  to  their 
doors  and  windows,  and  which,  as  it  draws  nearer,  is 
seen  to  proceed  from  a  surging  crowd,  lit  up  bv  the 
glare  of  innumerable  torches  and  which  surrounds 
something  in  the  shape  of  an  upright  coffer  mounted 
upon  the  back  of  a  horse.  This  procession  advances 
slowly,  accompanied  by  the  sounds  of  a  plaintive 
music,  by  a  droning  and  nasal  chant,  strident  cries, 
the  firing  of  guns  and   the  barking  of  dogs.       The 

explanation  of  the  whole  is,  however,  very  simple,  the  casket  contains  nothing  more  dreadful 
than  a  newly  married  young  girl,  and  the  attendant  crowd  is  composed  of  her  parents  and  friends, 
who  are  accompanying  her  to  the  house  of  the  bridegroom. 

For,  despite  the  strangeness  of  creed  and  climate,  the  eternal  human  passions  and  needs  are 


w 


h 


,6  AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 

still  present  in  this  African  empire,  and  the  great  business  of  love  and  marriage,  or  or  marriage 
without  love,  is  not  neglected.  I^overs  exchange  glances  of  desire  and  barter  lawful  or  unlawful 
kisses,  by  moonlight  or  otherwise,  as  in  other  lands ;  the  necessary  amount  of  intrigue  and 
passion  is  not  neglected  even  among  this  apparently  immovable  people.  As  h^  already  been 
noticed,  the  habit  of  drinking  wine  is  by  no  means  unknown,  despite  the  prohibition  of  the 
Prophet,  and  the  travellers'  reports  of  the  feasts  of  some  of  the  richer  of  these  Moorish  interiors 
furnish  a  curious  medley  of  things  unfamiliar  and  familiar.  The  master  of  the  house  generally 
receives  his  guests  in  the  square  courtyard  in  the  centre  of  his  mansion ;  out  of  this  court  open 
two  high  and  large  chambers,  without  windows  and  with  a  single  large  arched  door  closed  with 
a  ciirlain.  The  exterior  walls  are  as  white  as  snow,  the  arches  of  the  doorways  are  denticulated, 
the  pavements  in  mosaic.  Here  and  there  may  be  seen  a  small  window,  or  a  niche  for  slippers. 
The  tiles  are  probably  covered  with  carpets  and  rugs;  on  each  side  of  the  doorways  are  placed 
large  chandeliers  with  red,  yellow  and  green  caudles;  on  the  tables  are  mirrors  and  masses  of 
flowers.  The  effect  of  the  combination  of  these  objects  is  exceedingly  novel  when  seen  for  the 
first  time — "it  partook,  at  the  same  time,  of  the  character  of  the  ornamentation  of  a  church,  of 
the  decorations  of  a  theatre,  of  a  ball-room  and  of  an  imitation  of  a  royal  palace;  but  the  eusemhle 
was  full  of  grace  and  elegance,  and  the  distribution  of  the  lights,  the  combination  of  colors, 
gave  to  the  spectacle  a  novelty,  a  profound  signification  which  corresponded  wonderfully  with 
that  which  we  had  previously  thought  and  felt  in  a  confused  way  about  this  people — it  seemed 
to  us  that  here,  as  it  were,  we  had  found  the  light  and  the  tone  of  their  philosophy  and  of  their 
religion,  and  that  in  seeing  the  interior  of  this  house  we  had  been  able  to  understand  more 
intimately  the  spirit  of  this  race." 

On  this  particular  occasion,  our  traveller  relates,  considerable  time  was  expended  in  the 
reception  of  the  guests  by  Oriental  reverences  and  European  handshakings,  and  they  were  then 
invited  to  inspect  the  chamber  of  the  newly  married  couple.  This  was  a  long,  high  and  narrow 
room,  with  a  door  opening  on  the  court.  On  one  side,  at  the  back,  was  the  bed  of  the  young 
bride;  on  the  opposite  side,  that  of  her  husband,  both  of  them  covered  with  rich  stuffs  of  a  dark 
red  color  and  set  off  with  laces.  On  the  floor  was  a  thick  carpet  from  Rabat ;  the  walls  were 
hung  with  yellow  and  red  tapestries,  and  the  entire  wardrobe  of  the  bride  was  displayed  between 
the  two  beds — corsets,  petticoats,  trousers,  vests  of  unknown  shapes,  of  all  the  colors  of  a  bed  of 
flowers,  of  woollen,  silk,  velvet,  braided  and  starred  with  gold  and  silver — "the  trousseau  of  the 
doll  of  a  princess,  a  view  to  turn  the  head  of  an  opera-dancer  and  to  make  2.  figurante  expire 
with  env>-."  From  this  room  the  guests  were  conducted  into  the  dining-room,  where  they  found 
more  carpets,  tapestries,  masses  of  flowers,  grand  chandeliers  set  on  the  floor,  matresses  and 
cushions  of  a  thou.sand  colors  placed  against  the  walls  and  two  beds  ornamented  with  great 
luxury,  as  this  was  the  nuptial  chamber  of  the  father  of  the  groom,  the  master  of  the  house. 
Near  one  of  these  couches  was  prepared  a  table,  contrary  to  the  customs  of  the  Arabs,  who  serve 
their  dishes  on  the  floor  and  eat  without  knives  and  forks.  On  this  table  glittered,  in  scorn  of 
the  Prophet,  a  group  of  bottles  of  old  wine  specially  provided  for  his  Christian  guests  by  this 
Moorish  gentleman.  Before  placing  themselves  at  table  all  the  part\-  seated  themselves  cross- 
legged  on  the  floor  around  the  secretary  of  the  master  of  the  house,  a  handsome  Moor  in  a 
turban,  who  prepared  the  tea  for  their  use,  according  to  custom,  three  cups  for  each,  tremendously 
sweetened  and  perfumed  with  mint.  Thrusting  himself  among  these  strangers  was  a  little  boy 
of  four  years  of  age,  the  youngest  son  of  the  house,  with  a  shaven  head  and  a  top-knot,  who 
occupied  himself  in  counting  furtively  the  fingers  of  the  Christian  guests  to  assure  himself  that 
they  had  five  on  each  hand— just  like  the  true  believers. 

After  the  tea  every  one  took  his  place  at  table,  the  host,  at  their  invitation,  doing  the  same  in 
order  to  keep  compan\-  with  his  guests,  and  the  native  dishes— the  objects  of  their  lively  curi- 
osity—commenced to  be  served.  Our  traveller  relates  that  he  tasted  the  first  with  the  greatest 
confidence— "but,  grand  Dicu!  my  first  impulse  was  to  murder  the  cook  !  .  All  the  emotions 
that  might  produce  themselves  on  the  countenance  of  a  man  taken  suddenly  with  a  colic,  or  who  1 

hears  suddenly  of  the  failure  of  his  banker,  reflected  themselves.     I  am  sure,  on  my  countenance,  J 

I  comprehended  at  that  moment  perfectly  how  those  who  ate  of  such  dishes  were  able  to  believe  ■ 

HI  another  (iod  and  to  regard,  in  an  entirely  different  manner,  all  the  things  of  human  life.     I  do  ~ 

not  know  better  how  to  explain  the  sensations  of  my  palate  than  by  comparing  myself  to  a 


AFRICA    ILL  I 'S  TRA  TED. 


17 


mip^:^ 


Scene  in  Fez. 


wretch  condemned  to  nonrish  himself  with  the  contents  of  a  hair-dresser's  pots.  It  was  in  truth 
a  savor  of  pomade,  of  cerate,  of  soap,  of  ointments,  of  tinctures,  of  cosmetics,  of  everything 
that  can  be  imagined  as  the  most  impossible  to  pass  over  the  human  tongue.  At  each  dish  we 
exchanged  glances  of  astonishment  and  of  fright.  The  original  substances  should  have  been 
good;  there  were  pullets,  mutton,  game,  fisb,  enormous  dishes  of  an  excellent  appearance,  but  all 
of  them  swimming  in  abominable  sauces — greasy,  perfumed,  pomaded,  and  cooked  in  a  fashion 
that  would  have  made  it  much  more  natural  to  serve  them  with  a  comb  rather  than  a  fork. 

"However,  it  was  necessary  to  swallow  something,  and  I  exhorted  myself  to  make  the 
sacrifice  by  repeating  the  verses  of  Aleardi : 

'Alas  !   in  our  lifetime 
What  unknown   crimes  settle  upon  our  heads 
That  Destiny  makes  us  to  expiate!'  " 

But  it  is  Fez,  the  grand  metropolis,  the  African  Rome  of  the  younger  men  of  Tangier — like 
the  bridegroom  of  this  feast — that  all  travellers  must  see  who  hope  to  gain  a  fair  knowledge  of 
an  important  city  of  the  Moorish  sultan's  dominions.  It  was  founded  by  Muley  Edris  II.,  in 
the  year  808  A.  D. ,  and  was  considered  during  the  Middle  Ages — when  it  was  the  capital  of  the 
kingdom  of  Morocco — one  of  the  largest  and  most  magnificent  cities  in  the  Mohammedan  world. 
It  is  said  to  have  contained  ninety  thousand  dwelling-houses  and  about  seven  hundred  mosques, 


,8  AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 

and  was  celebrated  for  its  splendid  public  buildings,  schools  and  scientific  institutions.  On  the 
removal  of  the  court  to  Morocco,  about  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  century,  Fez  gradually  fell 
into  decay.  It  is  still,  however,  a  i)lace  of  considerable  importance  and  the  capital  of  the  chief 
and  most  northerly  province  of  the  empire,  that  which  lies  between  the  Atlas  Mountains  and 
the  Mediterranean.  The  situation  of  the  city  is  somewhat  singular;  it  lies  in  a  valley  formed 
by  the  surrounding  hills  into  a  sort  of  funnel,  the  higher  portions  of  which  are  co\ered  with 
trees— orange  gro\es  and  orchards.  It  is  divided  into  Old  and  New  Fez  b>-  one  of  the  upper 
branches  of  the  Sebu,  or  the  river  of  pearls,  and  has  a  population  variously  estimated  at  from 
twenty  thousand  to  nearly  ninety  thousand  souls.  There  are  still  a  hundred  mosques,  of  which 
the  most  important  is  that  built  by  the  Sultan'  Muley  Edris,  which  contains  his  monument  and 
is  an  inviolable  refuge  for  criminals,  however  guilty.  On  account  of  its  numerous  mosques  and 
relics  Fez  is  regarded  as  the  Holy  City  of  the  western  Arabs.  The  old  palace  of  the  sultan  is 
large,  but  is  now  falling  into  decay.  In  other  respects  the  external  aspect  of  Fez,  with  its 
numerous  baths,  caravanseras — of  which  there  are  about  two  hundred — and  bazars,  resembles 
that  of  Mohammedan  towns  in  general ;  the  multitude  of  hotels  and  shops  alone  imi^arting  to  it 
a  peculiar  and  more  European  character.  A  considerable  trade  is  still  carried  on,  by  means  of 
caravans,  with  the  adjoining  countries  on  the  south  and  east,  extending  as  far  as  Timbuktu.  The 
illustration  gives  a  good  idea  of  the  aspect  of  the  cit\-  and  of  the  old  crenated  walls  and  great 
towers  of  limestone,  crumbling  in  man)-  places,  that  surround  both  the  old  town  and  the  new. 
In  the  neighborhood  of  the  gates  and  on  the  heights  for  a  great  distance  around  the  country 
are  monuments  and  ruins,  tombs,  arches  of  aqueducts  and  traces  of  foundations  which  seem 
the  vestiges  of  a  city  razed  by  cannon  and  devoured  by  flames. 

On  entering  the  town  the  traveller  finds  the  crowd  increasing — the  men  pausi:ig  to  regard 
him  with  an  astonished  air,  the  women  turning  or  endeavoring  to  conceal  themselves,  the  chil- 
dren crying  and  fleeing  in  terror.  He  will  behold  fountains  ornamented  with  rich  mosaics, 
doorways  surroimded  by  arabesques,  some  courts  with  arcades  and  some  remnants  of  the  fine 
Arab  architecture  blackened  by  time.  At  intervals  he  will  find  himself  plunged  in  the  obscurity 
of  covered  passages  and  then  emerging  into  the  light  onh-  to  enter  again  into  shadows.  The 
principal  streets,  some  seven  feet  in  width,  are  thronged  with  the  populace;  to  right  and  left  open 
bazars  filled  with  animation,  the  courts  of  inns  encumbered  with  bales  of  merchandise,  the 
entrances  of  mosques  through  which  may  be  seen  the  long  perspectives  of  white  arcades  and  the 
figures  of  the  worshippers  prostrated  in  prayer.  The  air  is  impregnated  with  the  penetrating 
odor  of  aloes,  of  aromatics,  of  incense  and  of  kif\  it  seems  as  though  one  were  passing  through 
the  aisles  of  an  immense  establishment  of  drugs.  Everywhere  is  an  accumulation  of  filth  that 
is  appalling,  a  dust  that  is  asphyxiating. 

One  of  the  sights  that  may  still  be  seen  at  the  gates  of  this  city  is  thus  related  by  a  traveller: 
"We  were  approaching  the  gate  Bab-el-Maroc  in  order  to  enter  the  city,  when  the  vice-consul 
uttered  an  exclamation  that  made  me  shudder,  '  Two  heads  !'  I  lifted  m>-  eyes  tow-ards  the  wall 
and  caught  a  glimpse  of  two  long  streaks  of  curdled  blood,  but  I  had  not  the  courage  to  look 
higher.  I  was  told  that  there  were  two  heads  suspended  over  the  gate  by  the  hair ;  one,  appar- 
ently, that  of  a  young  man  of  fifteen,  the  other  that  of  a  man  of  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  of 
age,  both  of  them  Moors.  We  learned  later  that  they  had  been  suspended  there  during  the 
night  and  they  were  the  heads  of  two  rebels  from  the  provinces  on  the  frontiers  of  Algeria  which 
had  been  brought  to  Fez  the  evening  before.  But  the  blood  which  was  still  flowing  gave  rise 
to  the  suspicion  that  they  had  been  struck  ofi"  in  the  city,  and  perhaps  before  this  very  gate. 
However  this  may  have  been,  we  learned  from  this  that  the  heads  of  rebels  were  always  brought 
to  the  seat  of  government  and  presented  to  the  sultan.  After  which  the  imperial  soldiers  seize 
by  the  hair  the  first  Jew  that  they  encounter  and  compel  him  to  empty  the  skull  and  fill  it  with 
tow  and  salt.  The  heads  are  then  suspended  at  one  of  the  gates  of  the  city,  at  Fez,  for  instance, 
then  after  the  lapse  of  some  days  a  courier  puts  them  in  a  basket  and  carries  them  to  IMekinez, 
where  they  are  exposed  again,  then  to  Rabat,  and  thus  from  citv  to  city  until  complete  putre- 
faction has  set  in." 

A  nnich  pleasanter  spectacle  is  that  of  the  terraces  ou  the  house-tops  in  the  cool  of  the  day, 
which  at  Fez,  as  in  other  cities  of  the  empire,  are  reserved  for  the  women  aiid  are  considered  as 
in  some  measure  a  dependence  of  the  harem.     These  terraces  are  verv  high  and  are  defended  in 


Fhk  Gate  Bab-el-Maroc,  Fez. 


19 


20 


AFRICA   IL L  US TRA  TED. 


man> 


ly  cases  bv  a  wall  liigher  than  a  man  and  pierced  with  looplioles.  The  imperial  palace  being 
very  ioftv  and  sitnated  upon  an  eminence,  the  view  from  its  top  discloses  thousands  of  terraces, 
all  of  them  white,  the  hills  which  encircle  the  city  and  the  distant  mountains.  On  these  terraces 
may  be  seen  a  great  number  of  the  Moorish  women,  the  greater  part  of  them  richly  dressed ; 
some  are  seated  upon  the  parapets,  some  of  them  are  walking  backwards  and  forwards,  others, 
of  the  younger  sort,  leap  with  the  agility  of  squirrels  from  one  terrace  to  another,  hiding  them- 
selves, reappearing  and  throwing  water  in  each  other's  faces,  laughing  the  while  like  children. 
There  are  to  be  seen  the  old,  the  young,  children  of  eight  to  ten  years  of  age,  all  arrayed  in 
strange  costumes  of  vivid  colors.  The  greater  number  wear  their  hair  loose  on  the  shoulders,  a 
red  or  green  handkerchief  bound  around  the  head,  a  species  of  robe  of  various  colors,  with  large 
sleeves  and  girt  around  the  waist  by  a  blue  or  red  sash,  a  velvet  jacket  open  over  the  chest,  large 
trousers,  vcllow  slippers  and  great  anklets  of  silver.  Man\-  of  these  beauties  are  elaborately 
painted ;  antimon\-  black  under  the  eyes,  rouge  on  the  cheeks,  white  on  the  neck,  henneh  on  the 
fingers;  their  eves  are  almond-shaped,  veiled  with  long  lashes  and  full  of  languor,  the  nose 
slightlv  curved,  the  mouth  small  and  round.  Their  mental  resources  are  naturally  of  the 
slightest,  and  their  lives  are  one  long  ennui. 

The  interior  of  one  of  these  rich  mansions  is  thus  described  by  a  European:  "The  Moor 
Schellal  induced  us  to  take  tea  at  his  house.  We  entered  by  a  narrow  corridor  into  a  little  dark 
court,  very  pretty,  but  as  dirty  as  the  dirtiest  house  in  the  Ghetto  of  Alkazar.  Excepting  the 
mosaics  of  the  pavement  and  the  pilasters,  everything  was  black,  squamous,  viscid,  disgusting. 
On  the  first  floor  there  were  two  sombre  little  chambers,  around  the  second  floor  a  gallery,  and 
at  the  summit  of  the  walls,  the  parapet  of  the  terrace.  Our  fat  host  caused  us  to  seat  ourselves 
before  the  door  of  his  bedchamber,  ser\ed  us  with  tea  and  comfitures,  burned  aloes  before  us, 
sprinkled  us  with  rose-water  and  presented  to  us  two  of  his  children,  who  approached  us  pale 
with  fright  and  trembled  like  leaves  under  our  caresses.  On  the  side  opposite  the  courtyard 
was  a  young  negress  of  some  fifteen  years  of  age,  a  slave,  leaning  against  a  pilaster,  the  arms 
cros.sed  on  her  breast;  she  regarded  us  with  an  air  of  supreme  indiff"erence.  Soon  after,  another 
negress  issued  from  a  little  door,  a  woman  of  thirty  years,  tall  of  stature,  an  austere  countenance, 
a  robust  form  and  straight  as  a  twig  of  the  aloe.  Looking  upwards  we  perceived  all  the 
galler>-  of  the  second  floor  and  all  the  parapet  of  the  terrace  crowned  with  female  heads  which 
immediateh-  disappeared.  It  was  not  possible  that  they  all  belonged  to  the  house  of  our  host ; 
it  was  evident  that  the  ladies  of  the  mansion  had  announced  the  visit  of  the  Christians  to  their 
neighbors  and  that  the  latter  had  climbed  or  leaped  from  their  own  terraces  to  that  of  Schellal." 

Mekinez,  the  summer  residence  of  the  sultan,  is  situated  about  forty  miles  west  of  Fez,  lies 
in  the  midst  of  olive  plantations,  has  broad  streets  plentifully  shaded  with  foliage,  and  altogether 
presents  an  agreeable  contrast  to  the  interior  of  the  larger  city.  It  is  surrounded  by  a  triple 
row  of  crenated  walls,  and  on  approaching  it  at  midday  presents  to  view  its  thousands  of  white 
terraces  relieved  against  the  deep  blue  of  the  sky.  Not  a  column  of  smoke  ascends  from  this 
multitude  of  houses ;  not  a  soul  is  visible,  either  on  the  terraces  nor  before  the  walls ;  not  a 
sound  is  heard— one  would  sa\-  that  it  was  a  city  uninhabited,  or  that  it  was  only  an  immen.se 
scenic  painting.  In  Mekinez,  the  natives  assert,  are  found  the  most  beautiful  women  in  Morocco, 
the  most  beautiful  gardens  in  Africa,  the  finest  imperial  palace  in  the  world.  "The  palace, 
founded  by  Mule\-Ismael,  who  in  1703  there  possessed  four  thousand  wives  and  had  eight  hun- 
dred and  seventy-seven  sons,  was  two  miles  in  circuit  and  was  ornamented  with  columns  from 
the  ruins  of  the  city  of  Faraone,  a  neighbor  of  Mekinez,  from  Livournia  and  from  Marseilles." 

Mogador,  farther  south,  and  directly  west  of  the  city  of  Morocco,  is  the  important  port  of  the 
empire  on  the  Atlantic.  Its  European  name  is  derived,  it  is  said,  from  a  native  saint,  Mugdul  or 
Modogul.  The  inhabitants,  who  are  very  proud  of  their  city,  call  it  Showerah,  that  is  to  say, 
square;  it  is,  however,  rather  in  the  form  of  a  triangle.  The  town  is  entirelv  modem,  having 
been  laid  out  by  a  French  engineer,  Cornut,  in  1760,  during  the  reign  of  Sidi-iMohammed.  It 
is  built  on  a  sandy  beach  which  has  a  rocky  foundation  ;  the  houses  are  regular,  the  streets 
straight  and  well  arranged,  though  they  are  somewhat  narrow.  The  town  is  divided  into  two 
quarters,— one  in  which  are  the  citadel,  the  public  establi.shments,  the  palace  of  the  governor 
and  the  residences  of  the  consuls  and  of  the  European  merchants— this  quarter  is  the  property 
of  the  emperor.     The  other  portion  of  the  city  is  inliabited  by  Moors  and  Jews,  the  latter  in  a 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


21 


special  quarter,  villah,  which  the  police  close  at  night.  The  walls  which  surround  the  town  are 
not  very  higli  nor  very  strong,  but  they  serve  as  a  defense  against  the  attacks  of  the  mountain 
tribes  and  the  Arabs  of  the  plains.     The  population  is  estimated  at  from  thirteen  to  fifteen 


thousand  souls,  including  four  thousand  Jews  and  fifty  Christians.  The  harbor  is  formed  by  a 
bay  which  is  closed  by  the  island  of  Mogador,  situated  some  two  miles  from  the  mainland;  this 
island  contains  some  slight  fortifications  and  a  mosque.  It  was  easily  taken  by  the  French  in 
August,  1844. 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


23 


The  town  is  surrounded  by  movable  dunes,  which  present  a  very  strange  appearance  to  the 
traveller  arriving  from  the  interior ;  they  seem  to  be  immense  pyramidal  batteries  constructed 
to  defend  the  approaches  to  the  cit>-.  A  small  river  fills  the  aqueduct  which  supplies  the  inhabi- 
tants with  water.  The  climate  is  ver)-  healthy,  there  being  no  lowlands,  no  marshes  to  exhale 
miasma ;  it  rains  but  seldom,  but  the  chain  of  the  Atlas  Mountains  on  one  side  and  the  sea- 
breezes  on  the  other,  temper  the  dryness  of  the  air.  The  suburbs  are  nothing  but  desolate  sand 
wastes ;  here  and  there  ma>-  be  seen  a  garden  in  which  are  growing  a  few  vegetables  and  rare 
flowers.  These  are  all  cultivated  in  the  midst  of  the  sand,  and  demonstrate  the  good  results 
of  man's  industry  even  in  so  sterile  a  land.  On  one  side  of  the  city  are  the  two  cemeteries, 
Christian  and  native.  The  former  is  one  of  the  most  forlorn  resting-places  that  the  imagination 
can  conceive ;  no  sign  of  greensward,  of  trees,  not  even  a  single  cypress  to  cast  its  shadow  over 
a  tomb.  A  veritable  place  of  desolation  it  is  swept  over  by  the  lonely  winds  of  the  ocean ;  and 
the  Moorish  burial-ground  by  night  is  even  more  repelling.     The  pale  light  of  the  moon  serves 


Cemetery  at  Mogador. 

only  to  reveal  the  forlornness  of  this  abode  of  the  dead,  and  in  the  gloom  may  be  discerned  certain 
furtive  shadows  which  are  hyenas,  the  violators  of  the  graves.  This  dreary  scene  symbolizes 
not  unworthily  the  empire  of  Morocco. 


THE  first  important  point  that  the  traveller  strikes  in  journeying  eastward  from  Morocco  into 
Algiers  is  the  town  of  Tlemcen,  of  which  the  illustration  gives  the  general  view.  The 
first  appearance  of  the  town  is  very  pleasing ;  the  avenue  of  Mechonar,  by  which  the  gate  Bon- 
Medina  is  reached,  is  shaded  by  a  triple  row  of  white  poplars,  plane  trees,  acacias,  nettle  trees 
and  a  species  of  bead  tree  of  which  the  foliage  is  so  thick  that  no  sunbeam  can  pierce  it.  To 
the  left  are  the  old  walls  of  Mechonar,  the  citadel  of  Tlemcen  ;  to  the  right — the  reverse  of  the 
picture  —  the  houses,  with  but  few  exceptions,  are  of  a  sufficiently  squalid  appearance.     The 


,^  AFRICA   JLLLSTRATED. 

town  is  accessible  only  from  the  south-west,  the  other  sides  presenting  steeply  escarped  fronts. 
The  district  around  is  covered  with  fruit-trees  of  all  kinds,  of  which  the  olive  is  one  of  the  most 
valuable,  and  there  is  much  cultivated  land  producing  cereals,  tobacco,  etc.  The  town  is  the 
capital  of  the  province  of  Oran,  and  is  situated  eighty  miles  south-west  of  tlie  city  of  that 
name,  in  an  undulating  country,  everywhere  irrigated  and  brought  completely  under  cultivation. 
It  is  protected  from  the  south  wind  by  a  range  of  hills,  four  thousand  two  hundred  feet  in 
height.  In  it  are  both  Catholic  and  Protestant  churches,  mosques  and  synagogues,  and  there  are 
numerous  educational  establishments,  including  schools  for  Arabs  and  Jews.  Ostrich  feathers 
and  corks  are  exported,  but  the  trade  is  for  the  most  part  in  cloths,  hides,  grains  and  oils. 
Kesides  the  special  markets,  a  daily  market  is  held,  at  which  cattle,  wool,  grain  and  oil  are 

largely  sold. 

Tlie  climate  of  Tlemcen  is  remarkable  for  the  sudden  changes  of  temperature  — changes 
which  are  as  decided  from  one  day  to  another  as  from  one  season  to  another,  and  which  often 
succeed  each  other  rapidly  in  the  course  of  the  same  day,  especialh-  in  summer.  The  rains  are 
abundant ;  they  commence  generally  in  October  and  continue,  with  occasional  intervals  of  fine 
weather,  until  May  and  June.  The  spring  rains  and  the  very  frequent  morning  fogs  contribute 
to  give  a  luxuriance  of  growth  to  the  vegetation  that  surprises  the  traveller  even  in  the  heats  of 
summer.  He  is  astonished  to  find  this  freshness  of  verdure  around  the  city  after  traversing  the 
extensive  districts  in  which  all  vegetation  is  dried  up  in  the  month  of  June.  The  sirocco,  or 
wind  from  the  .south,  is  seldom  felt  at  Tlemcen,  and  never  for  more  than  two  or  three  days  at 
the  most.  And  other  great  atmospheric  manifestations  are  equally  rare ;  the  thunder  is  only 
occasionally  heard  in  winter  and  in  spring  or  at  the  end  of  an  occasional  day  that  has  been  too 
hot  for  the  season  ;  storms  pass  rapidly  over  the  city,  drawn  away— generally  towards  the  south- 
east— by  the  currents  of  air. 

The  citv,  though  thus  privileged,  cannot  be  said  to  be  beautiful  within  the  walls.  It  has, 
however,  mucli  improved  since  the  French  conquest  of  Algeria.  The  usual  native  disregard 
of  all  the  laws  of  sanitary  .science  was  here  manifested  in  full  force,  and  the  quarter  of  the  Jews, 
near  the  fine  avenue  of  Mechonar,  surpassed  all  the  others  in  filth  and  in  unhealthiness.  Since 
1842  some  edifices  have  been  built,  but  the  cost  of  construction — twenty  times  as  great  as  at 
Oran — has  been  such  that  they  do  not  add  much  to  the  appearance  of  the  town.  The  native 
quarters  are  still  hideous ;  they  are  often  not  much  more  than  ruins,  and  it  is  not  uncommon  to 
.see  wretched  habitations  constructed  from  the  debris  of  larger  ones.  Behind  the  Military 
Circle  there  is  a  perfect  labyrinth  of  wretched  buildings.  Nearly  all  the  interiors  are  equally 
miserable ;  a  mat  serves  for  a  bed,  a  chest  of  painted  wood  {scndouk)  contains  the  garments  and 
the  linen;  two  or  three  kitchen  utensils,  an  earthen  chafing-dish  and  plates  of  poplar  wood 
comprise  all  the  furniture. 

The  Jews,  though  crowded  together  in  lodgings  much  too  small  for  their  innumerable  progeny, 
are  somewhat  more  comfortably  installed.  Their  household  goods  are  le.ss  rudimentary;  their 
position  tends  to  improve  itself  while  that  of  the  Mussulmans  steadily  declines.  The  division 
between  the  two  classes  of  the  native  Mohammedans  is  strongly  marked  at  Tlemcen.  These 
two  classes  are  not  only  different,  but  hostile,  and  it  is  owing  to  this  antagonism  that  the  French 
are  able  to  maintain  their  hold  on  the  country  in  security.  The  Koulouglis,  born  of  Turkish 
fathers  and  Arab  mothers,  are  the  oppressed  race.  It  is  to  the  French  that  they  owe  their  freedom 
from  active  persecution  and,  in  consequence,  the\'  regard  the  foreigners  with  a  lively  sense  of 
gratitude.  They  have  not  been  wanting  in  active  cooperation,  as  at  one  time  when  they  joined 
the  French  forces  besieged  in  the  citadel  of  Mechonar  and  gave  them  active  support.  They  are, 
for  the  most  part,  men  of  tall  stature,  vigorous  in  body,  better  and  more  cleanly  clad  than  their 
rivals,  and  more  industrious.  It  is  owing  to  their  labor  that  the  fine  gardens  which  surround  the 
city  are  kept  green  ;  the  native  trade  is  entirely  in  their  hands  ;  they  keep  the  provision  stores 
that  are  well  patronized ;  as  butchers  they  are  active  competitors  with  the  French  and  the 
.Spaniards;  they  sell  at  reasonable  prices;  they  speak  French  and  sometimes  Spanish.  The 
Haddars,  on  the  contrary,  of  pure  Arab  blood,  are  degenerate,  poor,  indolent ;  they  are 
plnsically  smaller  than  their  ri\als  and  have  a  bronzed  complexion  and  black  hair,  while  the 
Koulouglis  are  whiter  and  have  often  blonde  hair.  The  latter  also  take  a  certain  pride  in 
rebuilding  their  dwellings  whenever  their  resources  permit.    There  are  among  them  some  skilful 


Id 


> 

u 

X 


26 


AFRICA    IL L I 'S  TRA  TED. 


The  Ksar  of  Tadjerouna. 


masons  wlio  preserve  the  traditions  of  the  fine  Moorish  architecture,  but  they  do  not  often  find 
occasion  to  exercise  tlieir  talents.  Large  fortunes  are  rare  amon.y;  the  JMohammedans,  and  when 
they  have  occasion  for  building  they  employ  European  workmen. 

The  Israelites  are  very  numerous,  and  their  community  dates  back  to  a  distant  epoch.  Accord- 
ing to  a  writer  in  the  Revue  africaine^  JVI.  Darmon,  it  was  after  the  destruction  of  the  temple  of 
Onias,  in  Alexandria,  that  the  Egyptian  Jews  sought  refuge  in  great  numbers  at  Tlemcen.  The 
persecution  of  the  fifteenth  century  also  caused  many  to  flee  to  Algeria,  particularly  in  the 
province  of  Oran.  The  rabbi  Ephraim  Ankaoa,  who  died  in  1442,  fifty  years  before  the  expul- 
sion of  his  race  from  Spain,  is  considered  to  have  been  the  founder  of  this  community.  He 
cured,  it  is  said,  of  a  dangerous  malady,  the  daughter  of  the  king  of  the  family  of  the  Beni-Zian  ; 
this  was  considered  as  something  miraculous,  and  assured  the  security  of  his  co-religionists. 
Tlie  Jewish  quarter  was  located  in  the  neighborhood  of  M^chonar,  so  as  to  find  an  additional 
protection  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  royal  palace.  A  synagogue  was  erected  in  the  midst  of 
the  habitations,  which  the  French  found  still  standing,  in  1842,  and  repaired,  as  is  commemorated 
b\'  a  tablet  placed  over  the  portal  of  the  edifice. 

Hy  the  treaty  of  May  30,  1837,  between  Abd-el-Kader  and  General  Bugeaud,  the  former 
recognized  the  sovereignty  of  France  over  the  regency,  and  recei\ed  in  return  the  government 
of  the  provinces  of  Oran,  Titeri  and  Algiers,  with  the  exception  of  certain  cities.  In  exchange 
for  Tlemcen  he  delivered  to  the  French  army  sixty  thousand  sacks  of  grain  and  five  thousand 
oxen,  and  he  was  likewise  permitted  to  buy  arms  and  ammunition  in  France.  In  this  year, 
seven  years  after  the  first  landing  of  the  French  on  the  coast  of  Algiers,  the  condition  of  the 
colony  was  desperate,  for  the  disgraces  which  had  followed  the  rash  and  even  reckless  measures 
of  Marshal  Clausel  had  everywhere  lowered  the  prestige  of  the  French  army.  The  duty  of  the 
new  governor-general,  Damremont,  was  clear;  he  had  to  wipe  out  the  stain  which  attached  to 
the  honor  of  his  soldiery  and  to  re-create  the  conviction  of  their  superiority.  It  was  a  critical 
moment  in  the  long,  sanguinary  and  often  disgraceful  story  of  the  French  conquest.  General 
Damremont  first  attacked  the  Kabyles  of  the  province  of  Algiers  and  chastised  them  with 
severity,  and  then  commenced  his  great  task  of  taking  Constantine,  from  which  his  predecessor 
had  been  compelled  ignominiously  to  retire.  In  the  month  of  Ma\-  he  marched  against  this 
city  with  an  army  of  twelve  thousand  disciplined  troops,  besides  Ziiaz'i  (originally  light  infantry 
raised  among  the  natives),  Bataillons  d' Afrique  (convict  battalions  at  first),  the  Tirailleurs 
d'Afriqiic  and  the  Chasseurs  d'' Afrique  as  well  as  the  Spahis  (a  cavalry  corps  composed  of  native 
soldiers  commanded  by  French  officer.s).  Notwithstanding  fearful  weather  he  succeeded  in 
carrying  the  town  by  storm  on  the  i3tli,  and  this  victory  laid  the  foundation  for  the  entire  subju- 
gation of  the  province  of  Constantine  which  was  completed  in  the  course  of  the  two  following 
years. 

On  December  i,  1837,  General  Valde  was  appointed  governor-general  in  the  place  of  Damre- 
mont, who  had  fallen  at  the  storming  of  Constantine.  New  treaties  were  made  with  Abd-el-Kader, 
which  only  delayed  hostilities.  I\Ieanwhile  the  work  of  colonization  went  on  in  spite  of  numerous 
obstacles.  The  pro\ince  of  Constantine  was  much  improved  by  the  building  of  towns  and  the 
making  of  roads,  but  the  sudden  outbreak  of  Abd-el-Kader  in  October,  1S39,  took  the  French 


AFRICA    ILLUSTRATED. 


27 


by  surprise,  and  by  the  24th  of  Xoveniber  their  dominion  was  confined  to  the  fortified  cities  and 
camps.  In  the  following  spring  campaign  their  successes  were  complete  and  their  prestige 
raised  higher  than  ever ;  Lientenant-General  Bugeaud,  who  arrived  in  Februar\',  1841,  to  take 
charge  of  the  affairs  of  the  province,  adopted  a  new  system  which  was  completely  successful. 
Abd-el-Kader,  defeated  and  compelled  to  retire  into  Morocco,  issued  from  there  a  second  time 
in  the  summer  of  1842,  and  contrived  to  maintain  a  fierce  but  desultory  warfare  for  two  or  threi 
years,  aided  by  the  Sultan  of  Morocco.  At  last,  however,  deserted  by  most  of  his  followers, 
pursued  by  his  late  ally,  and,  in  fact,  hemmed  in  on  all  sides,  he  was  forced  to  surrender  to 
General  Lamoriciere,  at  the  close  of  December,  1847. 

The  revolution  of  1848  somewhat  disturbed  the  progress  of  conquest  and  subjugation  in 
Algeria.  That  superb  race  of  mountaineers,  the  Kabyles,  the  descendants  of  the  ancient 
Numidians  and  possessed  of  the  same  fiery  and  dauntless  spirit,  broke  out  in  a  new  insurrection, 


Reception  in  the  House  of  Death. 


which,  however,  was  speedily  quelled.  The  work  of  conquest,  colonization  and,  in  some  respects, 
civilization,  went  on.  The  French  troops  penetrated  into  the  far  south,  almost  to  the  borders  of 
Sahara,  steadily  reducing  to  obedience  the  desert  tribes  despite  their  obstinate  resistance. 

Since  1850  the  successive  French  governments  have  devoted  considerable  attention  to  Algeria; 
but  the  French  are  proverbially  bad  colonists.  Of  late  their  success  has  exceeded  general  expec- 
tation, but  the  enormous  military  establishments  maintained  and  the  numerous  civil  functionaries 
employed  to  administer  the  affairs  of  the  colony,  "divert  the  stream  of  help  from  the  colonists 
and  embarrass  the  treasury."  The  Kabyles,  who  inhabit  the  mountainous  region  lying  between 
Algiers  and  Constaritine,  and  number  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  fighting  men,  are,  or  rather 
were,  the  great  foes  of  the  French.  Most  of  the  tribes  are  now  subdued  ;  but  the  struggle  has 
been  a  sanguinary  and  barbarous  one  on  both  sides.  These  Kab>les  are  by  far  the  most  intelli- 
gent and  industrious  of  the  Algerian  tribes.     Every  inch  of  their  ground  that  will  respond  to 


^""mu'Wff. 


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AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED.  29 

cultivation  is  made  use  of;  their  carpets  are  superb,  their  woollens  almost  as  good  as  the  English; 
while  their  own  gunpowder  was  believed  by  the  French  to  be  of  English  manufacture.  Yet 
these  fine  highlanders,  who  naturally  love  liberty  with  the  passion  of  a  high-spirited  race,  have 
been  subjected  repeatedly  to  horrors  that  cover  the  French  army  with  disgrace ;  their  homes 
burned,  their  women  violated,  and  their  land  rendered  desolate.  Their  retaliations  have,  doubt- 
less, been  savage  enough — mutilating  and  roasting  those  of  the  enemy  who  fell  into  their  hands — 
but  nothing  can  excuse  the  brutal  excesses  of  the  French  troops.  With  the  exception  of  the 
few  Kabyle  districts  that  still  maintain  a  precarious  independence,  the  whole  of  Algeria  is  now 
so  completely  subdued  that  one  may  travel  through  any  part  of  it  with  perfect  security.  The 
province  has  been  divided  into  districts  which  are  ruled  by  both  French  and  native  officers,  who 
are  responsible  for  all  offenses  committed  within  the  region  over  which  their  authority  extends. 
A  native  chief  possessed  of  this  perilous  dignity  is  sometimes  deposed,  fined  or  imprisoned  for 
negligence  in  the  performance  of  his  duty,  or  connivance  at  the  escape  of  the  offender.  The 
conquest  of  Algeria  has  cost  France  the  enormous  sum  of  5,000,000,000  francs. 

The  government  of  the  colony  is  in  the  hands  of  a  civil  governor-general.  Four  kinds  of 
taxes  are  levied  on  the  natives :  the  ackour,  a  tithe  upon  cereals ;  the  hockor,  the  rent  of  the 
land  (not  levied  generally) ;  the  zckkat,  an  impost  upon  cattle,  and  the  lezma^  a  sort  of  tax  upon 
capital,  levied  only  on  tlie  nomadic  tribes  of  the  Sahara.  All  the  taxes  are  levied  in  money. 
The  French  government  has  acted  neither  very  liberally  nor  very  promptly  towards  the  settlers, 
and  the  number  of  formalities  which  have  to  be  complied  with  before  the  colonist  can  properly 
secure  the  land  which  he  has  purchased,  often  disgusts  the  poor  farmer.  Labor  is  dear,  and,  in 
consequence,  provisions  are  the  same.  Both  agriculture  and  commerce  are,  however,  improving. 
Attention  is  given  by  the  government  to  the  spread  of  education,  both  French  and  Arabic-French 
schools  are  increasing  in  number,  and  various  establishments  for  higher  education,  including  a 
prosperous  lyceum  at  Constantine,  have  been  instituted.  The  military  expenditure  and  the 
expenditure  for  the  administration  of  justice  and  public  wonship,  are  included  in  the  general 
budget  of  France.  Algeria  is  represented  both  in  the  senate  and  chamber  of  deputies  of  the 
mother  country. 

Among  the  important  benefits  which  the  French  have  conferred  upon  the  colonists  and  native 
tribes  not  the  least  important  has  been  the  digging  of  artesian  wells  in  districts  formerly  destitute 
of  water,  by  means  of  which  waste  lands  have  been  reclaimed  and  made  richly  fertile.  In  May, 
1856,  a  boring  was  commenced  in  an  oasis  of  the  Sahara  or  desert  of  the  province  of  Constantine. 
A  civil  engineer,  a  sergeant  of  Spahis  and  a  detachment  of  soldiers  of  the  Foreign  Legion 
succeeded  in  bringing  to  light  a  splendid  fountain  or  river,  yielding  not  less  than  4010  quarts  of 
water  per  minute,  at  a  temperature  of  70°  F.  The  work  was  considered  a  miracle.  From  all 
quarters  the  Arabs  flocked  to  behold  and  enjoy  it.  The  native  priests  blessed  it,  naming  it  "The 
Fountain  of  Peace."  Another  well  was  termed  "The  Fountain  of  Benediction."  In  the  oasis 
of  Sidi-Rached,  unproductive  for  want  of  water,  a  well  was  dug  and  at  a  depth  of  fifty-four 
metres  yielded  4300  quarts  per  minute.  It  is  known  as  "The  Fountain  of  Gratitude."  The 
enthusiasm  excited  at  its  opening  was  boundless.  "The  Arabs,"  says  a  writer,  "sprang  in 
crowds  to  the  spot,  laving  themselves  in  the  welcome  abundance,  into  which  mothers  dipped 
their  children,  while  the  old  sheikh  fell  upon  his  knees  and  wept,  returning  thanks  to  Allah  and 
the  French."  Elsewhere,  the  new  wells  have  been  made  the  centres  of  settlements  by  previously 
nomadic  tribes,  who  have  constructed  villages  and  planted  date  trees  in  the  vicinity.  The 
wandering  habits  of  many  of  the  tribes  are  disappearing,  and  an  attachment  to  French  rule  is 
slowly  springing  up.  The  idea  of  providing  such  wells  has  rightly  been  considered  "a  stroke 
of  strong  political  wisdom. ' ' 

One  of  these  fertile  spots  in  the  wastes  of  the  Algerian  Sahara  is  the  little  oasis  of  Tadjerouna, 
on  the  route  from  Geryville  to  Ouargla  or  Wargla,  of  which  the  illustration  shows  the  exterior 
of  the  ksar,  and  which  may  be  taken  as  a  type  of  them  all.  Ksar,  of  which  the  plural  is  ksour, 
signifies  a  fortified  town  ;  the  oases  are  generalh"  surrounded  bv  walls,  and  these  strong  places 
ser\'e  as  magazines  and  warehouses  for  the  nomadic  tribes  who  deposit  in  them  their  stores  of 
grain  and  other  treasures  when  they  have  gone  to  a  distance  in  search  of  fresh  pasturage  for 
their  flocks.  Tadjerouna  is  an  oasis  without  verdure  and  without  palm  trees,  which  is  lodged  in 
a  depression  like  a  conch-shell  in  the  plains  which  surround  it.     Its  richness  consists  in  certain 


30 


AFRICA   ILL USTRA  TED. 


cultivated  spots  fertilized  by  the  waters  of  the  stream  Oued-Mel'h.  A  dam  across  this  river,  at 
the  rainy  season,  permits  it  to  overflow  the  depression;  the  land  thus  irrigated  is  sown  and  plowed 
and  at  tlie  end  of  two  months  yields  its  harvest.  lu  addition  to  this  resource  the  inhabitants  of 
Tadjerouna  are  the  storeliouse-keepers  of  the  Ouled-Jagoub,  a  powerful  tribe  with  which  they  are 
allied  both  by  blood  and  by  interest.  Whilst  the  ksar  preserves  the  grain  of  the  nomads,  in  con- 
ideration  of  a  slight  rental  paid,  the  latter  graze  the  flocks  of  the  oasis-dwellers  with  their  own. 
The  Kabvle  is  not  an  Arab,  but  an  original  African  possessor  of  the  soil — a  Berber.  The 
derivation  of  this  word  seems  to  be  from  the  Latin  barbari,  the  Greek  barbaroi,  the  Arabic 
biraht-r  and  bcrabra.  All  these  words  possibly  come  from  the  Sanscrit  zvm-wara,  a  hostile 
appellation  for  a  stranger.  The  different  races  that  have  in  turn  occupied  the  coast  of  the 
Mediterranean  have  somewhat  modified  the  original  Berber,  but  they  have  never  been  able  to 
completelv  change  his  manners  nor  to  assimilate  him  to  themselves.  Traces  of  all  of  them  may 
perhaps  be  found  in  the  present  tribes ;  the  variations  of  color  in  the  skin,  hair  and  eyes  are 
often  considerable,  but  the  Roman,  the  Vandal  and  the  Arab  have  all  disappeared  in  the  tenacious 
tvpe  of  the  Berber.  Their  social  organization  is  peculiar  in  some  respects.  In  each  village  the 
authoritv  is  exercised  by  an  amin^  chosen  by  election  and  alternately  from  each  family  or  kharotiba. 
This  chief  is  charged  to  watch  over  the  execution  of  the  written  laws,  classified  under  the  name 
of  khaiioiin  and  which  are  the  outgrowth  of  customs  known  among  the  Kab>les  from  time 
immemorial.  The  amin  cannot  make  any  decision  nor  impose  any  penalty  without  consulting 
his  counsellors  or  dhawans,  always  selected  from  among  the  notables.  This  tribunal  chooses  a 
secretary  {k/iodja),  who  is  charged  to  keep  an  open  record  of  all  their  deliberations  and  to  have 
charge  of  all  the  correspondence  with  the  French  authorities.  These  functions  of  the  khodja 
are  remunerated  by  certain  fees  of  figs,  olives,  etc. 


Kabyles  seeking  Refuge  in  a  Cave. 


AFRICA   TL  L  US  TRA  TED. 


31 


The  command  of 
the  tribe  is  given  by 
the  French  authori- 
ties to  an  amin-el- 
oumena,  whose  prin- 
cipal function  is  the 
surveillance  of  the 
tribe  in  the  interests 
of  public  order.  He 
is  not  expected  to 
take  any  part  in  the 
domestic  affairs  of 
the  village,  which 
are  regulated  each 
one  by  its  khanoun. 
Each  village  is 
divided  into  two  par- 
ties or  soff.,  who  are 
generally  hereditary 
enemies.  It  ma\- 
readily  be  believed 
that  the  extremities 
to  which  the  passions 
of  these  rival  factions 
lead  them  are  not 
conducive  to  the  pub- 
lic tranquillity.  The 
elections  of  the  amiu 
are  a  constant  source 
of  disturbance ;  the 
firearms  are  generally 
called  upon  to  play  a 
part  in  the  discus- 
sion, and,  to  use  the 
local  phrase,  the 
powder  speaks.  The 
disposition  of  the  vil- 
lages,   of  which    the 

buildings  nearly  always  overtop  each  other,  renders  these  skirmishes  sufficiently  bloody.  Some 
of  the  houses  are  crenated,  others  are  pierced  with  loop-holes,  and  the  djama  or  mosque  becomes, 
in  consequence  of  the  military  importance  of  its  ground  floor,  a  veritable  fortress,  the  possession 
of  which  assures  success. 

There  are  brighter  sides,  however,  to  the  life  of  these  villagers,  and  on  a  clear  morning  of 
spring  nothing  can  be  more  animated  than  the  Kabyle  footpaths  leading  to  a  popular  market. 
Under  the  foliage,  along  the  roads,  through  the  fordable  parts  of  the  rivers,  swarms  an  endless 
crowd — men,  women,  children  and  animals.  The  head  of  the  family  generally  leads  the  way, 
the  smallest  children  perched  upon  his  shoulders,  and  it  is  but  seldom  that  a  Kabyle  husband 
has  the  civility  to  lend  his  mule  or  his  ass  to  his  wife,  even  though  she  be  compelled  to  wade 
through  fords  up  to  her  knees.  A  French  officer,  however,  relates  having  been  a  witness  to  the 
scene  represented  in  the  illustration  on  page  28 ;  the  unwonted  consideration  here  displayed  for 
the  young  mother  he  ascribed  to  the  fact  that  she  was  evidently  not  over  seventeen  years  of  age 
and  that  she  was  burdened  with  two  very  young  infants.  The  donkey  which  she  rode,  pulled 
along  by  his  halter  despite  his  evident  unwillingness,  decided  the  pas.sage  of  the  rest  of  the 
troop — the  sheep  first,  and  behind  them  the  larger  cattle.  This  caravan  was  on  the  way  to  the 
market  of  Beni-]\Ienguellet,  one  of  the  most  important  of  the  grand  Kabyle,  and  which  is  held 


32  AFRICA   I L  LUST  RAT  ED. 

on  the  ri-ht  bank  of  the  O.ied  Djeniaa.  It  is  held  on  a  vast  plateau  surrounded  by  heights 
covered  with  fine  olive  trees.  AH  tlie  neighboring  tribes  of  Dra-el-Mizan  bring  to  it  then 
various  pro-l'V- 


*ii?** 


The  gay  and  pleasant  aspect  which  these  villages  present 
when  viewed  from  a  distance  is  by  no  means  confirmed  on  a 
closer  inspection.  The  state  of  carelessness,  dirt  and  disorder 
in  which  the  inhabitants  dwell  strikes  the  traveller  with 
dismay,  and  frequently  leads  to  epidemics  of  typhus  and  other 
fe\'ers  that  devastate  the  population.  The  houses  are  built 
close  together,  on  streets  frequently  unpaved  and 
so  narrow  that  only  one  person  can  pass  at  a  time 
without  turning  sideways.  A  small  court  leads  to 
the  entrance  of  one  or  more  dwellings ;  these  latter 
consist  of  a  single  room  on  the  ground  floor,  having  no  other  opening  than  the  door.  An 
excavation  in  the  floor  serves  for  a  fireplace,  to  which  there  is  no  chimne\-;  the  narrow  streets 
and  the  courts  are  used  as  places  of  deposit  for  filth  of  all  kinds.  In  some  villages  each  house 
contains  nine  or  ten  persons  who  inhabit  the  common  chamber  with  the  domestic  animals.  The 
earthen  floor,  unpaved,  soiled  with  filth  and  rarelv  covered  with  a  mat,  serves  as  a  couch  for  the 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


OJ 


members  of  the  family  ;  the  garments  are  greasy  rags  ;  the  food  is  coarse  and  insufficient.  Even 
in  death  no  more  state  is  allowed;  the  corpse  is  stretched  out  on  the  bare  floor,  sometimes  covered 
with  a  cloth  or  rug ;  the  neighbors  called  into  the  house  of  mourning  squat  around  in  a  circle, 
and  the  cattle  remain 


as  passive  spectators. 
Duriag  their  long 
and  sanguinar\-  strug- 
gle with  the  French 
these  mountaineers 
frequently  sought  ref- 
uge in  the  caverns  of 
their  rocky  country 
with  their  treasures 
and  flocks,  and  the 
district  of  Dahra  has 
acquired  a  melancholy 
celebrity  as  the  scene 
of  a  frightful  massacre 
perpetrated  by  the 
French  in  June,  1845, 
in  one  of  these  im- 
mense caverns.  The 
tribe  of  Ouled-Riahs, 
hotly  pursued  by  the 
forces  under  the  com- 
mand of  Colonel,  after- 
wards Marshal,  Pelis- 
sier,  took  refuge  in 
one  of  them ;  the}- 
were  ordered  to  sur- 
render their  arms  and 
horses,  and  were 
promised,  in  return, 
life  and  liberty.  On 
their  refusal,  fascines 
were  made  up,  kindled 
and  placed  at  the  en- 
trance of  the  caves. 
Thrice  Colonel  Pelis- 
sier  sent  a  flag  of 
truce,  exhorting  the 
imprisoned  Kabyles  to 
accept  his  terms,  but 
in  vain — the  last  mes- 
senger being  received 
with  a  discharge  of 
musketry.  The  fire 
was  again  kindled  in 
all  its  intensity,  and 
gradually  the  cries  of 
agony  from  the  inte- 
rior   of    the     caverns, 

ceased,  until  nothing  broke  the  dead  silence  but  the  occasional  crackling  of  the  green  wood  of 
which  the  fascines  consisted.  When  the  caverns  were  examined,  about  six  hundred  dead  bodies 
were  found  scattered  here  and  there ;   but  it  was  calculated  that  in  all— including  th^se  who 


o 
U_ 

O 

u 
u 
< 

1: 


O 
O 


'A 


.>4 


AFRICA    ILIA  'S TRA TED. 


Moorish  Cafe  at  Sidi-bon-Said,  near  Tunis. 


afterwards  died  and  those  who  could  not  be  got  at — about  eight  hundred  had  been  suffocated  by 
smoke,  or  gored  to  death  by  the  maddened  cattle  which  they  had  brought  with  them  into  their 
fatal  asylum.  The  news  created  a  great  sensation  in  Paris.  Marshal  Soult,  then  minister  of 
war,  formally  condemned  the  deed  ;  but  Marshal  Bugeaud,  the  governor  of  Algiers,  affirmed 
that  Pclissier  had  only  acted  under  positive  orders. 

The  capital  of  the  colony  is  Algiers,  with  a  population  of  about  fifty-five  thousand.  It  was 
built  about  935  A.  D.  by  an  i.rab  chief.  It  rises  from  the  seashore  up  the  sides  of  a  precipitous 
hill  in  the  form  of  an  equilateial  triangle.  The  apex  is  formed  by  the  Casbah,  the  ancient  fortress 
of  tlie  deys,  which  is  five  hundred  feet  above  the  sea-level  and  commands  the  whole  town.  The 
modern  town  is  handsomely  built  on  the  lower  ground  and  on  the  side  of  the  sea,  strongly 
defended.  Its  port  has  been  improved  at  great  expense  by  the  French.  Oran  and  Constantine, 
the  other  two  capitals  of  departments,  are  likewise  coast  towns;  the  former  in  the  west,  the 
latter  in  the  east.  Oran  is  a  strongly  fortified  place  with  quite  a  European  aspect,  and  its  port, 
Mers-el-Kebir,  about  five  miles  to  the  north,  has  one  of  the  finest  harbors  on  the  north  African 
coast.  Constantine  is  chiefly  remarkable  for  its  .striking  and  picturesque  situation,  occupying 
as  it  does  the  summit  of  a  lofty  mass  of  grayish-white  limestone,  which  sinks  precipitously 
on  all  sides,  and  on  three  sides  is  washed  by  the  foaming  waters  of  the  Wed  Rummel.  The 
town  and  neighborhood  are  rich  in  remains  of  ancient  Roman  structures,  and  the  walls  which 
surround  the  town  were  constructed  by  the  Arabs  out  of  Roman  sculptured  stones.  A  fine  old 
Roman  bridge  spans  the  ravine  on  one  side.  Constantine  was  anciently  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant towns  of  Numidia,  called  Carta  by  the  Carthaginians,  Cirta  by  the  Romans,  and  was  long 
a  royal  residence.  It  was  destroyed  in  the  wars  of  Maxentius  against  Alexander,  about  311  A.  D., 
but  was  soon  rebuilt  by  Constantine  the  Great,  from  whom  it  derives  its  present  name. 

The  palace  of  Constantine  is,  of  all  the  public  monuments  of  Algeria,  the  most  interesting, 
not  only  on  account  of  its  antiquity  but  also  because  of  its  value  as  an  architectural  example. 
It  is  not  that  it  is  of  an  imposing  aspect,  of  a  rare  finish  in  the  details,  nor  of  a  perfect  harmony 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED.  35 

in  all  its  parts,  but  compared  with  the  other  sumptuous  buildings  of  the  Turkish  epoch,  its 
superiority  is  manifested  by  its  elegant  and  handsome  proportions,  and  in  its  interior  decorations 
may  be  found  all  that  the  taste  for  ostentation  and  Algerian  luxury  could  produce  to  satisfy  the 
eye.  It  is,  in  a  word,  the  type  the  most  complete  in  architecture  adapted  at  once  to  the 
necessities  of  manners  and  customs  and  of  the  climate.  It  was  constructed  by  the  bey  El  hadj 
Ahmed,  about  1830,  and  is  now  occupied  as  a  headquarters  by  the  general  commanding  the 
province  of  Constantine.  One  of  the  most  characteristic  apartments  is  that  figured  in  the  illus- 
tration and  known  as  the  Saloon  of  Trophies,  entered  by  a  lateral  door  from  the  grand  reception 
saloon.  The  first  view  of  this  smaller  room  is  delightful ;  three  columns  of  marble,  slender  and 
twisted  in  spirals,  serve  to  support  the  rafters  of  the  ceiling,  from  which  are  suspended  various- 
colored  lanterns,  verA-  handsome  in  shape,  and  two  lustres  or  chandeliers  in  glass  in  the  Italian 
style  of  the  time  of  the  bey.  In  the  centre  of  the  length  of  the  apartment  is  an  oubou,  or  alcove, 
surrounded  by  divans,  and  at  right  and  left  the  panels  are  entirely  covered  with  large  mirrors 
set  in  gaily  decorated  woodwork.  The  lateral  walls  are  covered  with  large  rose-work  in  brilliant 
colors ;  the  floors  and  a  portion  of  the  walls  between  the  windows,  with  varnished  tiles,  and  the 
windows  are  defended  by  double  shutters,  ornamented  with  mirrors  on  the  interior  and  with 
admirable  arabesques  in  cedar  on  the  opposite  sides.  There  may  still  be  seen  in  this  chamber, 
which  was  formerly  the  apartment  of  Fathma,  the  daughter  of  the  bey,  a  curious  specimen  of 
the  ancient  furniture — a  stand  for  candles,  having  the  form  of  an  egg-cup,  which  has  been  sur- 
mounted by  an  ostrich  ^%%.  This  stand  is  in  gilded  bronze,  with  three  branches  on  which  are 
placed  the  candles.  That  which  gives  the  room  its  distinctive  title,  however,  is  the  collection 
of  trophies  of  arms  and  flags  which  decorate  its  walls  and  which  serve  to  commemorate  the 
various  expeditions  and  feats  of  arms  of  the  conquerors  in  the  province  of  Constantine.  The 
initiative  of  this  collection  was  taken  by  Marshal  MacIMahon,  and  it  has  been  continued  by  his 
successors.  Guns,  sabres,  pistols  and  maces,  of  the  most  diverse  forms,  compose  these  trophies ; 
several  of  them  are  surmounted  by  banners  in  red,  yellow  or  green  silk,  under  which  the  fanatic 
marabouts  have  called  their  coimtrymen  to  the  holy  war  against  the  invaders. 

Fathma,  the  daughter  of  the  bey,  who  had  formerly  occupied  this  Saloon  of  Trophies,  was 
the  favorite  daughter  of  her  father,  and  gave  occasion  for  the  exercise  of  his  cruelty  more  than 
once.  It  was  intended  that  she  should  be  given  in  marriage  to  El  hadj  Hussein  Tourki,  but  the 
bey  learned  that  this  \'oung  man  had  become  enamored  of  a  beautiful  young  widow,  Qohra, 
whereupon  he  caused  her  to  be  arrested,  tied  up  in  a  sack  and  thrown  from  the  top  of  the  Kaf 
Chekora,  a  precipice  at  the  extremity  of  the  Casbah,  "five  times  the  height  of  the  column 
Vendome."  In  1834  the  bey  sent  to  Europe  one  of  his  mamelukes,  a  renegade  Italian  named 
Seliman,  with  a  large  sum  of  money  to  buy  jewels  and  trinkets  for  Fathma.  His  first  purchase, 
from  a  butcher  of  Leghorn,  was  three  enormous  dogs,  at  three  hundred  francs  apiece,  to  guard 
the  harem  during  the  night.  One  day  in  traversing  the  streets  of  Leghorn  he  happened  to  see 
a  cripple  drawn  along  in  a  small  wagon  by  some  dogs ;  the  idea  occurred  to  him  to  procure  this 
vehicle  for  the  entertainment  of  his  mistress,  which  he  did,  for  the  sum  of  a  thousand  francs — 
and  great  was  the  joy  in  the  palace  when  the  equipage  arrived.  Not  only  were  the  ladies  of 
the  seraglio  transported  with  the  novelty  of  riding  in  it,  but  the  bey  himself  took  occasion 
to  mount  his  gravest  ministers  and  graybeards  in  it,  and  laughed  till  the  tears  came  into  his 
eyes  at  the  figure  they  cut  as  they  were  transported  around  the  halls  at  full  gallop  by  the 
canine  team. 

The  court  called  that  of  the  Genii,  of  this  palace,  is  surrounded  by  a  peristyle  of  five  pointed 
arches  .on  each  side,  and,  being  somewhat  isolated,  served  as  a  vast  basin  in  which  the  women 
of  the  bey's  harem  took  their  baths.  The  fountain  springing  out  of  this  reservoir  to  a  great 
height  fell  back  into  a  series  of  basins,  one  above  the  other  and  of  unequal  dimensions,  on  the 
edges  of  which  a  skilful  artist  had  carved  rose-work  and  intertwining  ornaments.  In  the  waters 
of  the  reser\'oir  lived  a  large  number  of  fishes,  of  w^hich  the  ladies  took  care.  On  one  side  of 
this  court  a  stairway  descends  into  some  large  vaulted  chambers  which  extend  under  the  palace. 
Here  was  found  an  etii've,  or  jMoorish  bath,  exclusively  for  the  use  of  the  bey  and  his  ladies. 
Each  day  a  certain  number  of  mules,  laden  with  great  water-skins  of  oxhide,  transported  to  the 
palace  the  water  from  the  river  that  flows  at  the  foot  of  the  city.  This  water,  poured  into  a  sort 
of  conduit,  reached  the  interior  of  the  palace  through  pottery  pipes.      Over  this  bath  were 


36 


AFRICA   ILLCSTRATED. 


Carthage. 


chambers  for  the  repose  of  the  bathers,  one  of  them  containing  an  immense  bird-cage  in  which 
were  confined  nightingales,  finches,  parrots,  canaries  and  other  birds  for  the  anuisement  of  the 
harem.  When  the  bey  fled  from  his  palace  these  ladies  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  French,  and 
thongh  most  of  them  were  snfficiently  fat  and  ugly,  some  few  of  the  younger  ones  were  described 
as  being  as  attractive  as  the  fair  bather  of  our  illustration.  Many  of  them  succeeded  in  effecting 
their  escape  through  a  hole  in  the  wall  of  the  building. 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


37 


THE  territories  of  ancient  Carthage  included  those  of  the  modern  state  of  Tunis,  and  the 
ruins  of  that  city  lie  about  ten  miles  to  the  north-west  of  the  town  of  Tunis,  close  to  the 
country  residence  of  the  bey.  The  ancient  cape  of  Carthage  is  now  Cape  Sidi-bon-Said ;  of  the 
great  Punic  capital  nothing  now  remains  but  some  dismantled  piles  of  stones  and  two  crumbling 
arcades;  of  the  trace  she  left  on  the  fears  and  memories  of  men  nothing  but  some  pages  of  history 
and  some  figures  re-created  by  the  imagination,  like  the  "Salambo"  of  Gustave  Flaubert,  repro- 
duced in  marble  by  his  compatriot,  the  sculptor  Idrac.  "The  serpent  was  for  the  Carthaginians 
a  fetish  at  once  national  and  particular.  He  was  believed  to  be  the  offspring  of  the  slime  of  the 
earth,  since  he  had  emerged  from  its  depths  and  had  no  need  of  feet  to  traverse  its  surface :  his 

progress   recalled   the  undulations  of  the  waves ;   his        _ 

temperature,  the  ancient,  viscid  shadows,  full  of 
fecundity;  and  the  circle  which  he  describes  in  biting 
his  own  tail,  the  totality  of  the  planets,  the  intelli- 
gence of  Eschmoun." 

Some  of  this  ancient  slime  of  the  earth  may  still 
be  found  in  the  streets  of  modern  Tunis,  "narrow  and 
unspeakably  dirty" — the  town  being  one  of  those  as 
\-et  but  little  affected  by  the  touch  of  modern  civili- 
zation. A  great  variety  of  appellations,  injurious  and 
otherwise,  have  been  bestowed  upon  it ;  Diodorus 
Siculus  calls  it  "Tunis  the  white,"  the  Arabs  have 
surnamed  it  alternately  "the  glorious,"  "the  veri- 
table," "the  flourishing,"  "the  industrious,"  "the 
well-guarded"  and  "the  sojourn  of  felicity."  A 
French  physician,  L,ouis  Franck,  doctor  to  the  bey 
Hamoudah,  proposed  to  substitute  for  all  these  epithets 
%\\xii^\y  fassedch^  "the  fetid."  It  lies  on  the  Mediter- 
ranean, the  only  large  town  in  the  State,  at  the 
extremity  of  a  salt  lagoon  about  twelve  miles  in 
circumference,  connected  with  the  Bay  of  Tunis  by 
the  narrow  channel  of  Goletta;  a  town  at  the  mouth 
of  which,  also  called  Goletta,  serves  as  the  port  of 
Tunis.  The  capital  itself  has  been  compared  to  a  vast 
bournous  extended  on  an  inclined  plane.  The  Casbah 
occupies  the  place  of  the  capuchin,  or  hood.  The 
upper  city  is  inhabited  by  the  Mussulmans ;  the  quar- 
ters of  the  Italians,  ^Maltese,  French  and  Jews  are  in 
the  lower  town  and  the  suburbs.  The  dar-el-bey,  the 
palace  of  the  bey,  which  is  not  remarkable  externally, 
is  decorated  in  the  interior  with  great  luxury  in  the 
Moorish  style,  and  is  used  as  a  residence  for  illustrious 
foreigners.  The  bey  has  his  ordinary  residence  at 
El-mersa,  on  the  sea-coast,  three  leagues  from  the 
city.  The  official  .seat  of  the  government  is  the 
Bardo,  a  vast  building,  flanked  with  towers  and  bas- 
tions, about  two  miles  north-west  of  the  town.     The 

polytechnic  school,  the  State  prisons,  an  entire  garrison,  are  included  in  this  fortress,  where  may 
also  be  found  a  street  of  shops.  Between  the  city  and  the  Bardo  extends  a  lake,  the  sebkat-h-seld 
joung,  which  is  nearly  dried  up  during  the  heats  of  summer.  At  Sidi-bon-Said,  near  the  cape, 
is  the  picturesque  Moorish  cafe  shown  in  the  illustration. 

Next  after  Tunis,  with  Goletta,  the  principal  ports  are  Susa  and  Sfaks,  on  the  east  coast. 
The  trade  with  different  parts  of  Europe— principally  Marseilles,  Genoa  and  Leghorn,  as  well 
as  the  ports  of  the  Levant  — consists  principally  in  exporting  the  products  of  inner  Africa. 
Among  the  means  of  internal  communication  may  now  be  included  railways ;  the  city  of  Tunis 
being   connected   by  rail  with   several  of  the  other  chief  towns  of  the  neighborhood.       The 


SalambA. 


^^^  AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 

principal  line  is  one  recently  constructed  from  Tunis  to  the  Algerian  frontier,  a  line  belonging 
to  a  French  company.  The  manufactures  consist  chiefly  of  woollen  fabrics,  more  especially 
bournouses  and  the  red  caps,  which  are  known  all  over  the  Mediterranean,  soaj),  earthenware  and 
ordinar>-  and  morocco  leather.  An  intoxicating  drink  made  from  dates,  and  another  made  from 
the  Indian  fig,  are  in  great  favor  with  the  people,  not  being  forbidden  by  the  Koran.  The  only 
minerals  are  lead  ores,  said  to  exist  in  various  parts  of  the  mountains,  quicksilver,  which  is  not 
worked,  and  deposits  of  saltpetre  on  the  plateau  of  Kairwan.  Salt  is  obtained  on  the  coast. 
Some  of  the  coast  fisheries,  as  those  of  coral  and  sponges,  are  valuable. 

The  government  is  a  despotism,  the  ruler  having  the  title  of  bey.  From  1575  the  suzerainty 
of  the  State  has  been  claimed  by  Turkey,  but  the  French  having  in  the  spring  of  1881  invaded 
the  State,  under  the  pretext  of  punishing  the  Kroumirs,  or  Berber  inhabitants  of  the  mountains 
in  the  extreme  north-west,  for  their  inroads  on  French  territory,  compelled  the  bey  to  accept  a 
treaty  which  made  French  authority  supreme  in  Tunis.  In  this  treaty  the  right  is  secured  to 
France  of  occupying  all  such  positions  as  the  French  military  authorities  deem  necessary  for 
the  maintenance  of  order  and  the  security  of  the  coasts  ;  the  bey  undertakes  not  to  conclude  any 
international  convention  without  a  previous  understanding  with  the  French  government,  and 
the  financial  system  of  Tunis — previously,  from  1869,  under  a  European  commission — is  declared 
to  be  regulated  henceforth  by  France  in  concert  with  the  bey.  The  revenue  is  mainly  derived 
from  export  duties,  ta.xes  and  tithes  on  olive  plantations,  the  monopolies  of  salt  and  tobacco, 
and  stamp  duties. 

The  inhabitants  are  generally  well  formed ;  the  men  are  of  dry  and  thin  figures,  and  there 
are  comparatively  few  diseased  and  malformed ;  the  Moorish  women  are  handsome  when  young, 
their  complexions  are  lively,  their  eyes  are  large,  well  opened  and  have  much  expression,  their 
hair  is  nearly  always  of  a  fine  bluish  black — they  dress  it  and  let  it  float  on  their  shoulders.  The 
embonpoint  is  in  Tunis,  as  in  most  other  Oriental  countries,  one  of  the  essential  conditions 
of  beauty,  and  it  is  said  that  the  ladies  of  this  nation  have  an  infallible  recipe  for  becoming 
fat — to  eat  young  dogs.  The  women  of  the  richer  classes  cover  themselves  with  ornaments  of 
gold  and  silver,  with  mirrors,  precious  stones,  scent-boxes,  chains  and  corals.  The  poorer  Arab 
women  load  themselves  with  glass  beads  and  copper  jewelry.  The  children,  when  born,  have 
the  skin  as  white  as  that  of  Europeans,  or  rather,  of  a  dull  white,  but  exposure  to  the  sun  gives 
them  little  by  little  a  darker  shade,  which,  however,  is  not  displeasing. 

The  costume  of  the  Jewesses  of  Tunis  diflfers  \'ery  considerably  from  those  of  Algeria  and 
Morocco.  Its  decided  originality,  rendered  still  more  striking  by  the  excessive  embonpoint  of 
the  fair  wearers,  fills  the  traveller  with  surprise  on  first  view,  and  to  the  strangeness  of  fashion 


"if^ 


*'>'  0^  BaC 


"SillDlBR 


The  Bardo,  Government  Buildings,  Tunis. 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


39 


Dancing-Girl  in  a  Cafe. 

is  added  a  combination  of  the  crudest  and  most  brilliant  colors.  According  to  tradition  they 
have  preserved  the  identical  costume  of  the  Hebrews  of  Scriptural  times.  The  principal  features 
of  this  venerable  costume  may  be  described  as  a  pointed  cap  set  on  the  head,  a  very  loose  jacket 
or  sack,  frequently  richly  embroidered,  which  descends  but  a  little  below  the  waist,  and  tight 
hose  to  cover  the  legs,  terminating  in  slippers  or  in  a  sort  of  Hessian  boot  with  tassels.  The 
costume  of  the  men  is  much  more  like  that  of  the  Turks,  excepting  that  their  loose  trousers  do 
not  come  much  below  the  knee. 

Two  French  travellers,  the  doctors  Rebatel  and  Tirant,  who  made  a  journey  of  exploration 
through  the  country  in  1874,  have  left  a  detailed  account  of  the  country  as  it  was  before  the 
French  occupation.  In  the  encampment  of  the  Methilits,  near  Sfaks,  they  encountered  an 
unusual  specimen  of  Arab  hospitality;  the  chief,  Si-Salah-Embarek,  doing  the  honors  of  his 
douar.  "He  offered  us  welcome  under  a  tent  of  English  tent-cloth,  an  unheard  of  luxury  in 
Tunis ;  he  displayed  to  us  his  treasures — his  war-horse,  a  magnificent  Arab  stallion  of  inesti- 
mable beauty  and  value,  and  his  sabres,  pure  Damascus,  with  which  he  had  amused  himself, 
in  his  youth,  by  cutting  a  young  camel  in  two  at  one  stroke.  .  .  .  He  even  pushed  his  cordiality 
so  far  as  to  introduce  us  into  his  private  tent  in  which  were  his  wives,  his  negresses,  and  all  his 
riches,  not  omitting,  however,  to  call  our  attention  to  his  remarkable  mark  of  confidence."  The 
position  of  women  in  Tunis,  indeed,  as  in  all  Mohammedan  countries,  is  rather  that  of  valuable 
property  than  that  of  companions  or  helpmeet— those  enjoying  the  greatest  freedom  being  the 
dancing-girls,  who  have  much  the  same  license  as  the  Almeh  of  Egypt. 


WHEN  the  wind  is  favorable,  and  the  master  of  the  Maltese  schooner  or  the  Arab  xebec  is  a 
good  sailor,  the  walls  of  Tripoli  may  be  seen  rising  out  of  the  sea  forty-eight  hours  after  leav- 
ing Malta.  The  shore  is  low  and  can  only  be  seen  when  very  near,  but  while  still  ten  miles  out 
at  sea  the  voyager  may  discern  the  mountains  of  the  interior  which  serve  as  a  signal  to  navigators. 
As  the  vessel  approaches  the  shore  a  more  distinct  line  may  be  seen,  emerging  out  of  the  waves 


40 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


and  gradually  defining  a  long  crescent,  in  the  middle  of  which  may  be  seen  the  white  mass  of  the 
town.  The  eastern  point  is  covered  with  a  sombre  grove  of  palm  trees  which  advance  to  the 
edge  of  the  water ;  the  western  extremity  reveals  only  the  yellow  sand  of  the  desert  spotted  here 
and  there  with  stunted  growths.  Nature  has  thrown  across  the  front  of  the  little  gulf,  which 
forms  the  harbor  of  the  city,  a  reef  of  low  rocks  which  seem  to  invite  the  hand  of  man  to 
construct  on  them  a  breakwater ;  but  the  indolent  Arab  has  only  accepted  the  invitation  as  far 
as  building  a  feeble  rampart — probably  upon  Roman  foundations — for  a  sliort  distance  from  the 
shore,  and  on  this  has  mounted  some  rusty  cannon,  whose  empty  menace  recalls  the  days  when 
the  power  of  this  piratical  kingdom  was  a  terror  to  the  maritime  nations  of  Europe. 

Like  all  the  cities  of  the  Orient— Smyrna,  Jerusalem,  Constantinople,  Alexandria— like  the 
gorgeous  East  itself,  Tripoli,  beautiful  from  the  distance,  is  far  from  enchanting  when  viewed 
ancar.  A  disillusioned  French  traxeller  declares  that  Paris  is  a  near  enough  point  from  which 
to  contemplate  the  Orient.  As  soon  as  the  voyager  has  set  foot  on  the  little  quay  in  masonry, 
striped  with  green,  yellow,  blue  and  red,  which  serves  as  the  custom-house  landing,  his  poetical 
imaginings  all  disappear,  and  his  eye  aud  nose  are  assailed  with  the  most  disenchanting  of 
impressions.  As  soon  as  the  gate  of  this  little  fortress  is  thrown  open  he  emerges  into  a  laby- 
rinth of  narrow,  irregular  aud  very  dirty  streets,  lined  with  miserable  shops  and  crumbling 
houses,  and  littered  with  all  manner  of  dirtiness.  There  are,  however,  moments  of  reform  : 
Tripoli  is  still  a  vilayet  of  the  Turkish  Empire,  and  whenever  a  new  pacha  arrives  from  Constan- 
tinople and  enters  on  the  duties  of  his  government,  he  publishes  an  eloquent  manifesto  on  the 
benefits  of  public  decorum  and  the  necessity  of  public  cleanliness.  In  the  interest  of  all,  each 
subject  is  requested  to  forthwith  scour,  and  keep  thereafter  cleaned,  his  own  property,  under 
penalty  of  the  severest  punishment.  Then  ensues  a  great  emulation  :  each  proprietor  clears  the 
front  of  his  own  shop  or  his  own  house  of  all  impurities  and  carefully  piles  them  in  a  little 
mound  in  the  street,  to  be  removed  out  of  the  city  immediately.  But  somehow  the  removal  is 
indefinitely  postponed  ;  the  little  piles  of  filth  grow  larger  and  larger  and  are  then  graduall}- 
scattered  again  as  before,  and  all  things  go  on  in  the  old  way.  The  greater  part  of  the  houses 
are  united  to  each  other  at  the  distance  of  every  few  paces  by  arches  of  masonry,  a  yard  or  so 
in  thickness,  which  hinder  the  facades  from  approaching  each  other  still  nearer;  often,  after  the 
heavy  rains,  these  supports  are  strengthened  by  rafters  of  timber — all  of  which  does  not  prevent 
the  crumbling  to  pieces  of  many  dwellings  in  the  course  of  the  year.  Whether  it  is  owing  to 
the  badness  of  the  lime  employed,  or  the  fact  that  the  stones  are  mosth-  a  sort  of  compressed 
sand,  or  to  the  brackishness  of  the  water,  it  happens  that  the  space  of  a  year  is  generally  enough 
to  reduce  a  new  building  to  a  state  of  menacing  ruin.     The  rapidity  of  this  disintegration  is 


Off  the  Sea,  Tripoli. 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


41 


not  without  its  discouraging  influence  upon  architects  and  builders.  With  the  exception  of  the 
convent  of  the  Mission,  the  consular  dwellings  and  the  residences  of  a  few  European  negociants, 
there  are  scarcely  any  handsome  buildings  in  the  town. 

The  arrangement  of  nearly  all  the  dwellings  is  the  same  ;  a  square  court  {impliivmm),  around 
which  extends  a  covered  gallery,  a  sort  of  cloister  supported  by  slender  columns,  and  long  and 
narrow  chambers — the,  scarcity  and  dearness  of  wood  rendering  the  employment  of  long  beams 
too  costly.  The  rooms  have  generally  the  form  of  a  Latin  cross  with  the  foot  cut  ofif,  that  is,  a 
corridor  from  which  issue  at  right  angles  two  larger  rooms.  Each  chamber  thus  forms  in  reality 
three  apartments,  which  are  generally  separated  by  curtains.  That  part  of  the  town  which  lies 
nearest  the  quay  is  mostly  occupied  by  the  Christian  population,  grouped  around  the  churches, 
of  which  there  are  two  or  three,  and  the  consulates ;  the  western  portion  is  given  over  to  the 
Jews,  and  is  rather  the  dirtiest  of  the  whole  town.  There  are  several  ancient  remains,  among 
the  most  important  of  which  is  a  triumphal  arch  erected  in  the  second  century  of  our  era  to  the 
Roman  emperors  Aurelius  Antoninus  and  Lucius  Verus,  and  before  which  you  pass  in  entering 
the  city  by  Bal-el-bakr,  the  sea  gate.  There  are  some  beautiful  gardens  within  and  without  the 
walls ;  and  there  are  important  manufactures  of  leather,  carpets,  scarfs,  etc.  From  here  the 
caravans  passed  through  the  Desert  of  Sahara  to  Timbuktu,  Bornu  and  other  points,  to  obtain 


Tripoli,  from  the  North. 


the  products  of  the  Soudan,  but  this  overland  trade  has  greatly  fallen  ofif  of  later  years.  Tripoli 
being  the  centre  of  a  large  agricultural  population,  the  native  capitalists  occupy  themselves  in 
money-lending  to  the  peasantrj-. 

Nowhere  else  in  the  northern  part  of  Africa  does  the  great  desert  come  down  so  near  to  the 
sea  as  in  this  State.  The  chain  of  the  Atlas  Mountains,  which  from  the  Atlantic  coast  has 
protected  the  Mediterranean  shore  from  the  invading  sands,  here  sinks  into  a  low  range  of 
hills  and  finally  disappears  in  the  little  gulf  of  Syrta,  west  of  the  city  of  Tripoli.  Here  is  the 
natural  sea-port  of  the  Soudan,  the  Barr-el-aabid,  the  easiest  route  to  the  centre  of  the  conti- 
nent, and  it  was  by  this  road  that  Dr.  Barth  commenced  his  explorations  to  the  Soudan,  leaving 
Tripoli  in  1850.  The  boundaries  of  Tripoli,  especially  on  the  south,  are  far  from  being  definitely 
fixed,  but  the  whole  area  of  the  State,  including  Fezzan  and  Barca,  has  been  roughlv  estimated 
at  about  four  hundred  thousand  square  miles.  Some  geographers  include  the  oasis  of  Kufra,  to 
the  east  of  Fezzan,  in  the  Tripolitan  territory;  but  according  to  a  communication  addressed  by 
Gerhard  Rohlfs  to  the  editors  of  the  Erdbevdlkernng,  this  oasis  is  entirely  independent.  The 
total  population  of  the  territory  is  estimated  at  about  one  million,  of  whom  about  three  hundred 
thousand  belong  to  Barca.  The  coast-line,  which  is  from  seven  to  eight  hundred  miles  long,  has 
only  one  harbor,   that  of  the  town  of  Tripoli.      The  eastern  part  of  the  interior,    mostly  a 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 

continuation  of  the  desert,  partakes  of  its 
character,  and  contains  large  tracts  of 
almost  barren  sands.  In  the  south,  how- 
ever, it  is  partly  traversed  by  the  Black 
Mountains,  an  eastern  offset  of  the  Atlas, 
which,  descending  in  successive  terraces, 
enclose  many  valleys  and  plains  of  con- 
siderable fertility.  Farther  to  the  west, 
the  surface  becomes  still  more  diversified, 
and  presents  scenery  which  is  not  deficient 
either  in  beauty  or  grandeur.  The  richest 
tract  of  Tripoli,  by  far,  is  that  of  the 
Mesheea,  which  stretches  about  fifteen 
miles  along  the  coast,  with  a  width  not 
exceeding  five  miles,  and  has  the  capital 
nearly  in  the  centre.  The  whole  of  this 
district  is  occupied  with  fertile  fields,  on 
which  wheat,  barley,  millet  and  Indian 
corn,  besides  madder,  saffron,  and  other 
crops,  are  grown,  and  with  olive-yards, 
vineyards  and  orchards  —  the  last  pro- 
ducing all  kinds  of  southern  fruit. 

This  fertile  zone  is  divided  up  into 
little  enclosures,  in  the  centre  of  each  of 
which  may  be  seen  two  upright  piles  of 
masonry,  like  those  shown  in  the  engrav- 
ing, between  which  is  hung  a  great  pulley 
from  which  a  pointed  leathern  bucket 
mounts  and  descends,  discharging  at  each 
ascent  a  volume  of  limpid  water.  The 
motive  power  is  generally  a  meagre  cow, 
conducted  by  a  half-naked  negro,  who 
toils  up  and  down  an  inclined  plane,  the 
lowest  part  below  the  level  of  the  soil.  Day  and  night  this  movement  continues,  from  the  end 
of  the  rainv  season  to  its  commencement.  Durino;  eight  months  the  gardens  are  so  inanv 
basins,  regularly  inundated,  and  they  are  called  by  the  general  name  of  shii^^  a  word  derived 
from  an  Arabic  verb  which  signifies  "to  inundate  a  piece  of  earth  with  water  drawn  by  a  beast 
of  burden" — a  very  comprehensive  word. 

When  the  sap  begins  to  mount  in  the  date  palm,  under  the  genial  warmth  of  spring,  a  man 
mounts  the  lofty  trunk  of  the  tree  without  other  aid  than  that  afforded  by  his  naked  feet  and  a 
girdle  whicli  unites  him  to  the  stem,  until  he  arrives  at  the  crown  of  the  tree  where  the  branches 
spring  out.  These  he  cuts  off  remorselessly  with  a  sharp  hatchet,  leaving  only  four,  which 
stretch  themselves  out  horizontally  as  if  to  indicate  the  cardinal  points  of  the  compass.  Over 
the  insertion  of  one  of  the.se  he  passes  a  fine  cord,  the  two  ends  of  which  touch  the  earth,  and 
between  two  of  the  scars  left  by  the  shorn  branches  he  wounds  the  tree  by  a  deep  incision.  Then 
he  descends,  and  a  ves.sel  to  receive  the  flowing  sap  is  run  up  by  means  of  the  cord  and  suspended 
just  below  the  incision.  Twelve  hours  afterwards  it  is  brought  down  and  another  sent  up  to 
take  its  place.  The  first  is  full  of  a  pale  gray  liquid,  not  quite  clear,  somewhat  similar  to  barley 
water— this  is  the  /aqby—ix&s\\,  almost  tasteless,  slightK-  sweet  and  an  excellent  purgative  to  take 
in  tlie  morning.  Some  hours  afterwards  a  slight  sound  may  be  heard  in  the  vessel,  the  liquid 
is  found  to  be  clearing  and  seems  to  boil ;  innumerable  bubiDles  of  air  are  seen  coming  to  the 
surface  and  sparkling  there— if  tasted,  it  is  found  to  prick  the  palate  .slightly,  and  the  drinker 
finds  himself  able  to  think  without  regret  of  the  best  champagne  he  has  ever  known— if  the 
travellers  are  to  be  believed.  No  inconveniences  attend  the  free  partaking'  of  this  charming 
beverage ;  the  sli^jlit  fermentation  has  given  it  a  refreshing  quality  while  quite  destroying  its 


Wkm.  i.. 


1  I.. "Ill  L,  r..\. 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


43 


laxative  properties.  But  if  left  to  stand  a  half  day  longer  this  beautiful  liquid  becomes  thick 
and  white  like  milk,  assumes  a  penetrating  odor  and  a  slighth-  acid  taste,  and  is  as  intoxicating 
as  brandy.  The  fine  champagne  has  been  changed  into  a  white  beer  of  remarkably  alcoholic 
qualities.  It  is  in  this  state  that  the  natives  prefer  it — drunkenness  being  the  thing  desired, 
and  the  most  rigid  I\Iussulman,  who  .turns  with  horror  from  a  glass  of  wine,  drinks  without 
scruple  and  publicly  his  cup  of  laqby,  which  is  only  the  sap  of  the  palm.  It  is  necessary  to 
empty  the  vessel,  for  to-morrow  it  will  be  found  to  contain  only  a  nauseating  liquid,  filled  with 
little  reddish  spots,  viscous  as  oil  and  good  only  to  be  thrown  away.  The  laqby  is  thus  the  most 
ephemeral  of  beverages ;  it  is  necessarj'  to  drink  it  in  the  shadow  of  the  tree  that  produces  it. 
Ever}'  means  that  has  been  tried  to  arrest  the  fermentation  has  proved  futile ;  it  either  breaks 
the  bottles,  or,  if  they  prove  strong  enough,  the  deterioration  is  found  to  have  been  accomplished 
just  the  same  and  the  vintage  is  ruined.  It  is  an  eloquent  pleader  for  the  philosophy  of  Horace, 
"Enjoy  the  day  which  passes,  and  leave  nothing  till  to-morrow!" 

The  eastern  division  of  Tripoli  is  Barca,  lying  between  the  Great  Syrtis — now  called  the 
Gulf  of  Sidra — and  Eg\'pt.  From  the  latter  it  is  separated  b}'  no  definite  line,  but  b)-  a  number 
of  roving,  independent  tribes.  On  the  south  is  a  desert  plain  which  descends  to  the  northern 
depressions  of  the  Libyan  Desert.  The  oval  plateau,  which  forms  the  greater  part  of  the  province, 
was  the  ancient  Cyrenaica,  held  successively  by  the  Egyptians,  Romans,  Byzantines,  Persians 
and  Arabs,  and  many  remains  of  ancient  towns,  especially  in  the  north-western  part,  testify  to 
its  former  importance  and  the  celebrated  fertility  of  the  soil.  At  present  the  fertile  districts 
extend  over  only  about  a  fourth  of  the  countr}-;  the  east  exhibits  only  naked  rocks  and  loose 
sand.  Rice,  dates,  olives,  saff"ron,  etc.,  are  produced  ;  the  pastures  are  excellent  and  the  horses 
still  celebrated  as  in  ancient  times.  The  climate  is  healthy  and  agreeable  in  the  more  elevated 
parts,  which  reach  a  height  of  about  twelve  hundred  feet,  and  in  those  exposed  to  the  sea-breeze. 
Ancient  Cyrenaica  was  much  exposed  to  the  ravages  of  loci:sts. 

Southward  of  Tripoli,  on  the  route  to  the  Soudan,  is  the  great  oasis  of  Fezzan  or  Fessan, 
extending  far  into  the  heart  of  the  great  desert  and  defended  on  the  north  by  the  rocky  plateau 
of  the  Hammada.  To  the  many  obstacles  which  nature  has  placed  on  this  road  the  superstitions 
of  the  native  Bedouins  have  added  one  more  formidable  to  them  than  distance,  heat  or  thirst. 
This  is  the  Boji-chcbr^  through  which  not  even  the  flocks  of  cranes  may  pass.  The  legend 
relates  that  these  terrible  Djin,  who  have  been  imprisoned  for  all  eternity  in  the  stony  Hammada 
by  the  great  Solomon — on  whom  be  peace  ! — were  formerly  the  souls  of  a  great  people  inhabiting 
that  district,  numerous  and  powerful,  feared  of  their  neighbors,  and  disdainful  of  all  humanity 
and  of  all  justice.  When  Solomon  sent  them  an  apostle,  to  bring  them  to  the  worship  of  the 
one  God,  they  put  him  to  death,  and  even  turned  to  derision  the  precepts  and  observances  which 
this  envoy  had  taught  them.  They  placed  a  pig  in  their  temples,  in  imitation  of  the  mihrab  or 
niche  in  the  wall  of  the  mosque  to  indicate  the  direction  of  Mecca,  and  they  made  the  sacred 
ablutions  with  camels'  urine.  Coimting  on  their  isolation  and  the  distance  which  separated 
them  from  all  their  neighbors,  they  had  no  fear  of  any  news  of  their  impiety  reaching  the  ears 
of  Solomon.     But,  as  it  happened,  there  were  a  great  number  of  cranes  in  the  land  of  the  Bou- 


DrINKERS    of    La(i1!V. 


44 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


chdbr,  and  these,  scandalized  at  the  actions  they  witnessed,  deputed  one  of  their  number  to  carry 
the  tidings  to  the  prophet.  The  latter,  filled  with  indignation  at  the  recital,  summoned  the 
lapwing,  his  favorite  bird,  and  commanded  him  to  gather  together  all  the  cranes  on  the  face 
of  the  earth.  When  these  were  assembled  they  fonned  a  cloud  which  threw  the  earth  into 
shadow  from  Misda,  near  Tripoli,  to  Murzuk,  the  capital  of  Fezzan.  Each  one  was  provided 
with  a  stone  in  his  beak,  and  dropping  these  all  at  once,  the  infidels  all  perished  of  this  lapida- 
tion.  Hut  llicir  wicked  .souls,  thus  set  free,  continue  to  wander  about  over  these  solitudes,  and 
no  crane  has  ever  since  been  able  to  wing  through  that  tormented  air. 

In  this  curious  Mohammedan  legend  seems  to  be  revived  the  old  story  of  the  Pigmies  and 
the  cranes.  Bou-chebr  means,  literally,  the  father  of  the  span,  or  handsbreadth,  that  is,  the 
man  who  is  measured  by  a  span,  or  the  distance  between  the  thumb  and  little  finger,  separated 
as  widely  as  possible. 


The  Hills  of  Barca  (Ancient  Cyrenaica). 


Fezzan  has  a  population  estimated  b\  Dr.  Nachtigal  at  about  thirty-three  thousand,  divided 
among  some  ninety  villages,  and  a  nomadic  population  of  about  one-fourth  or  one-third  that 
number.  The  northern  part  of  the  district  is  for  the  most  part  hills,  perfectly  bare,  black  quartz 
sandstone,  with  no  rivers  or  brooks  among  them,  and  the  south  is  mainly  a  level  waste  of  dry  sand. 
Not  more  than  a  tenth  of  the  soil  is  cultivable.  In  the  neighborhood  of  the  villages,  which  are 
situated  mainly  in  the  wadies,  wheat,  barley,  etc.,  are  cultivated.  Camels  and  horses  are  reared 
in  considerable  numbers.  Lions,  leopards,  hyenas,  jackals,  wildcats,  porcupines,  vultures, 
ostriches  and  buzzards  are  found  in  abundance.  The  inhabitants  are  a  mixed  race,  of  a  brown 
color,  in  many  respects  resembling  the  negroes,  but  are  generally  well  fonned.  The  original 
inhabitants  belonged  to  the  Herbcr  family,  but  since  the  invasion  of  the  country  by  the  Arabs 
in  the  fifteenth  century  the  traces  of  this  native  North  African  elenient  have  ^raduallv  become 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


45 


ven-  faint.  The  language  spoken  is  a  corrupt  mixture  of  Berber  and  Arabic.  The  people  are 
far  behind  in  civilization,  and  occupy  themselves  with  gardening  and  the  manufacture  of  the 
most  indispensable  necessaries  of  life.  Considerable  trade  is  carried  on  by  means  of  caravans 
between  the  interior  of  Africa  and  the  coast.  Fezzau  is  the  Phazania  of  the  ancients,  against 
which  the  Romans,  under  Cornelius  Balbus,  undertook  a  campaign  about  20  B.  C.  During  the 
classic  period,  as  well  as  in  the  middle  ages,  it  was  governed  by  its  own  princes,  who  were  at 


first  independent,  but  afterwards  became  tributary'  to  the  pachas  of  Tripoli.     In  the  year  1842,  it 
was  conquered  by  the  Turks,  and  since  that  time  has  remained  a  Turkish  pachalic. 

Earth  found  the  town  of  Murzuk,  or  Mourzouk,  the  capital,  to  be  situated  at  the  bottom  of  a 
plateau  surrounded  by  dunes,  at  four  hundred  and  fifty-six  metres  above  the  level  of  the  sea. 
Notwithstanding  the  picturesqueness  of  the  situation,  the  traveller  is  struck,  at  first  sight,  with 
the  extreme  aridity  of  the  scene,  and  this  impression  is  deepened  by  a  residence  of  some  days 


46  AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 

in  the  town  or  its  neigborhood.  It  is  only  in  the  shadow  of  the  date  palms  that  any  cultivation  is 
possible  ;  here  are  raised  some  fruits— pomegranates,  figs  and  peaches  ;  vegetables  are  extremely 
scarce,  and  the  milk  of  the  goat  is  the  only  one  known.  The  population  of  the  town  is  about 
twenty-eight  hundred,  but  the  quarters  of  the  city  distant  from  the  bazar  are  almost  deserted. 
A  broad  street,  called  dendal,  extends  from  the  eastern  gate  to  the  citadel,  and  demonstrates  that 
the  city  has  closer  relations  with  Negroland  than  with  the  Arab  territories  on  the  north. 

"Murzuk,"  says  Earth,  "is  not,  like  Gadames,  inhabited  by  rich  merchants;  it  is  less  the 
seat  of  a  considerable  commerce  than  a  place  of  transit.  For  us  it  was  the  first  station  of  our 
journey  and  our  true  point  of  departure,  so  that  we  asked  nothing  better  than  to  start — but  who 
can  lea\-e,  at  his  own  will,  an  African  city  when  it  is  a  question  of  hurrying  individuals  for 
whom  time  does  not  e.xist?  Our  departure,  which  was  originally  fixed  for  the  6th  of  June,  was 
finally  set  down  for  the  13th  ;  and  we  really  got  off  on  that  day.  But  after  having  halted  at 
Tasaoua  in  order  to  come  to  an  understanding  with  two  chiefs  of  the  Tuaregs,  those  mysterious 
and  silent  pirates  of  the  desert,  it  was  necessary  to  turn  back  on  our  steps  and  re-euter  Murzuk ; 
and  it  was  not  until  the  25th  that  our  little  caravan,  returned  to  Tasaoua,  finally  set  out,  climbed 
the  mountains  of  sand  and  entered  on  a  firmer  soil  of  which  the  heights  were  crowned  with 
tamarisk.  It  even  seemed  that  a  violent  flood  of  water  had  at  some  time  carried  away  the  earth 
which  had  united  the  hills,  leaving  them  isolated.  We  soon  found  again  the  pebbly  soil  of  the 
hammada,  then  the  succession  of  green  valleys  and  arid  plains  that  had  preceded  our  arrival  at 
Murzuk." 

The  route  followed  was,  at  first,  nearly  due  west,  towards  Ghat,  and  in  entering  the  valley  of 
Tanesof  they  saw,  rising  before  them,  the  mountain  Iniden,  or  "of  the  Demons,"  lit  up  by  the 
rays  of  the  setting  sun.  The  following  day  found  them  still  advancing  towards  this  enchauted 
height  which  the  accounts  of  the  natives  endowed  with  a  most  formidable  character.  Despite 
the  warnings  of  the  Tuaregs,  or — as  he  says  himself — possibly  because  they  united  in  advising 
him  not  to  risk  his  life  in  the  attempt  to  climb  this  demoniac  peak,  Earth  determined  to  make 
the  attempt.  Not  being  able  to  obtain  any  guide,  he  set  off  alone  for  this  infernal  sojourn, 
finnly  persuaded  that  it  had  been  formerly  the  seat  of  some  strange  worship  and  that  he  should 
find  there  some  traces  of  ancient  sculpture  or  curious  car\'ings.  Unfortunately  he  carried  with 
him  no  other  provisions  than  biscuits  and  dates,  the  most  unsuitable  kind  when  water  fails.  He 
climbed  the  dunes  and  entered  on  an  entirely  naked  plain,  strewn  with  black  pebbles  and  spotted 
with  small  mounds  of  the  same  color ;  after  this  he  crossed  the  bed  of  a  torrent  carpeted  with 
grasses,  and  which  seemed  to  rejoin  the  valley.  Here  he  encountered  the  first  signs  of  life:  a 
couple  of  antelopes,  which,  having  their  young  near  by  probably,  did  not  fly  at  his  approach 
but  contented  themselves  with  staring  at  him  and  flourishing  their  tails.  He  now  found  himself 
at  the  mouth  of  a  ravine,  and  the  enchanted  palace  seemed  as  far  away  as  ever ;  he  changed  his 
direction  only  to  find  his  progress  barred  by  a  precipice.  The  heat  of  the  sun  was  overpowering, 
and  it  was  only  when  almost  spent  with  fatigue  that  he  finally  attained  the  summit  of  the 
mountain,  the  pinnacle  of  which,  only  a  few  feet  in  extent,  displayed  neither  sculptures  nor 
inscriptions. 

Notwithstanding  the  extended  view  to  be  obtained  from  this  summit  he  could  discern  no 
trace  of  the  caravan.  His  hunger  and  thirst  had  become  devouring;  he  was  unable  to  eat  his 
biscuit  and  dates,  and  so  little  of  his  water  was  left  that  he  restricted  himself  to  mouthfuls.  It 
was  necessary  to  descend  immediately,  in  spite  of  his  feebleness,  and  when  he  reached  the  plain 
again  his  supply  of  water  was  exhausted.  And  he  had  not  proceeded  far  when  he  discovered 
that  he  was  lost,  and  fired  his  pistol  in  the  vain  hope  of  attracting  help.  Straggling  onwards 
in  the  hope  of  discovering  some  clue  to  his  whereabouts  he  remembered  that  there  were  grasses 
at  the  place  where  he  had  first  arrived  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain ;  then  he  discovered  some 
little  huts  near  a  tamarisk,  but  when  he  reached  them  they  were  deserted.  Then  he  saw  pass 
in  the  distance  a  string  of  camels ;  it  was  but  an  illusion,  and  he  was  losing  his  head.  When 
the  night  came  he  perceived  the  gleam  of  a  fire  through  the  du.sk,  which  must  be  that  of  the  cara- 
van ;  he  fired  his  pistol  again  without  any  response.  The  flame  could  still  be  seen  mounting  in 
a  thin  line  towards  the  sky,  but  he  was  unable  to  reach  it  and  was  obliged  to  wait  the  davbreak. 
When  the  light  at  length  reappeared  he  loaded  his  pistol  with  a  double  charge  and  discharged 
It  once  more;  tlip  detonation  rolling  from  rock  to  rock  seemed  to  him  to  be  rousing  the  dead;  but 


AFRICA   TLL  US TRA  TED. 


47 


The  Oasis  of  Asben. 


no  living  help  appeared.  The  sun  which  he  had  wished  for  so  ardently  soon  began  to  assert  his 
power,  the  heat  was  frightful,  and  the  unhappy  traveller  crawled  along  the  sand  to  seek  the 
scanty  shadow  of  the  naked  branches  of  a  tamarisk  ;  at  noon  he  had  scarcely  enough  to  cover 
his  head.  His  thirst  was  devouring  him ;  he  opened  a  vein,  drank  a  little  of  his  own  blood 
and  lost  consciousness.  When  he  regained  his  senses  the  sun  had  already  sunk  behind  the 
mountains;  with  difficulty  he  dragged  himself  a  few  paces  from  the  friendly  tamarisk  and  cast 
his  eyes  over  the  desolate  plains,  as  he  thought  for  the  last  time,  when  he  heard  the  voice  of  a 
camel — "the  most  delicious  music  that  I  ever  had  heard."  He  was  rescued  after  twenty-four 
hours  of  agony  by  one  of  the  Tuaregs  of  the  caravan,  who  was  searching  for  him.  The  demons 
of  the  mountain  had  taken  an  ample  revenge. 

The  caravan  rested  for  six  days  in  the  double  oasis  of  Ghat  and  of  Barakat,  in  the  cultivated 
fields  of  which  the  barley  and  wheat  giving  place  to  millet  announced  the  approach  to  Negroland. 
Our  travellers  found  here  well-kept  gardens,  surrounded  by  palisades,  turtle-doves  and  wood 
pigeons  on  all  the  branches  of  the  trees,  comfortable  habitations  surmounted  with  flat  roofs,  men 
working  with  commendable  industn,-,  swarms  of  children  and  almost  every  woman  with  a  baby 
on  her  shoulders.  The  population,  black  but  well  formed,  seemed  much  superior  to  the  mixed 
inhabitants  of  Fezzan.  But  from  this  pleasant  land  it  was  necessary  to  take  up  the  march  again 
for  the  desert,  which  in  this  locality  is  a  veritable  chaos  of  rocks. 

South  of  these  oases  is  the  immense  one  of  Asben  or  Ahir,  which  has  been  called  the 
Switzerland  of  the  desert,  and  the  route  followed  by  Earth  on  his  way  to  Agades  traversed  a 
region  extremeh*  picturesque — at  each  instant  a  new  view  opened  through  the  mountains  and 


48  AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 

revealed  glimpses  of  winding  gorges,  fertile  valleys  and  detached  peaks  which  overlook  the 
landscape.  This  immense  oasis  was  formerly  the  countr_\-  of  the  Goberaoua,  the  noblest  branch 
of  the  blacks  of  Haoussa,  who  appear  to  have  had,  in  ancient  times,  some  ties  of  consanguinity 
with  the  races  of  the  north  of  Africa.  The  Berber  rule  was  already  established  in  the  fourteenth 
century  in  several  of  these  towns.  Leo  Africanus  says,  positively  that  Asben  was,  at  the  time 
of  his  travels,  occupied  by  the  Tuaregs ;  it  was  they  who  gave  the  province  the  name  of  Ahir. 
The  conquerors  took  the  native  women  for  wives,  and  this  crossing  of  the  grave  Berbers  with 
the  light-hearted  carelessness  of  the  negroes  has  given  rise  to  a  new  type. 

In  the  freshness  of  the  morning  of  the  7th  October,  as  the  caravan  took  its  departure  through 
the  valley  of  Tiggeda,  the  air  was  filled  with  flocks  of  pigeons ;  the  rocky  mountain  which 
separated  them  from  the  valley  of  Erazar-en-Asada  was  crossed,  and  to  the  eastward  rose  the 
imposing  mass  of  the  Dogem.  The  tropical  vegetation  grew  so  thickly  that  the  camels  could 
with  difficulty  force  their  way  through,  but  once  this  luxuriance  passed  the  route  led  over  a 
pebbly  plain  covered  with  a  thicket  of  mimosas,  in  which  were  to  be  discovered  the  frequent 
trail  of  lions,  very  numerous  in  these  waste  places,  but  not  ver\'  ferocious,  according  to  Earth. 
After  this  came  the  valley  of  Taghist,  sprinkled  with  basaltic  stones  of  the  size  of  a  child's  head, 
and  of  which  the  rocky  slope  is  entirely  bare.  This  lugubrious  strait  was  consecrated  to  prayer 
bv  Mohamined-ben-Abd-el-Kerin,  from  Touat,  who  first  introduced  Islamism  into  the  central 
Soudan.  From  here  they  passed  into  the  celebrated  valley  of  Auderas,  where  the  sky  is  pure, 
and  the  valley,  surrounded  by  abrupt  slopes,  basks  in  a  green  luxuriance  of  woods,  thickets  and 
grass.  Like  all  those  which  succeed  it,  this  valley  is  capable  of  producing  not  only  millet,  but 
also  wheat,  grapes,  dates  and  nearly  all  kinds  of  vegetables ;  it  is  said  to  enclose  fifty  gardens 
around  the  village  of  Ifarghen.  Earth  records  that  this  was,  he  believed,  the  most  southerly 
place  in  Africa,  north  of  the  equator,  where  the  plow  was  still  in  use.  In  all  Negroland  this 
useful  implement  is  replaced  by  the  hoe.  From  this  terrestrial  paradise,  ascending  through  the 
Boudde  valley,  they  reached  at  last  the  stony  plateau  on  which  is  built  the  city  of  Agades  on 
the  frontiers  of  the  Soudan. 

This  town  stands  on  a  flat  stretch  of  ground  covered  with  piles  of  rubbish  and  filth ;  it  was 
formerly  the  seat  of  a  considerable  commerce,  but  since  the  close  of  the  last  century,  the  period 
of  the  conquest  of  Gogo  by  the  Tuaregs,  the  population  has  fallen  from  sixty  thousand  souls  to 
seven  or  eight  thousand.  The  greater  part  of  the  houses  are  in  ruins  ;  the  twenty  or  twenty-five 
buildings  which  constitute  the  palace  are  themselves  crumbling  in  neglect ;  of  the  seventy 
mosques  of  former  times  there  now  remain  not  more  than  ten,  and  the  numerous  vultures  on  the 
walls  which  surround  the  town  serve  to  emphasize  decay.  Here  Earth  succeeded  in  procuring 
from  the  sultan,  Abd-el-Kader,  letters  of  recommendation  to  the  governors  of  Kano,  Katchena 
and  Daoura.  From  Agades  the  route  led  over  a  mountainous  region,  interspersed  with  fertile 
valleys,  into  the  plain  which  separates  the  rocky  waste  of  the  desert  from  the  fertile  region  of 
the  Soudan.  This  plain  gradually  becomes  more  and  more  covered  with  thickets  and  broken  in 
surface  and  finally  descends  a  steep  slope  to  the  smiling  fields  of  the  frontier  province  of 
Damerghon.  From  Tagelel,  the  first  town  they  reached,  Barth  set  out  for  Kano,  the  capital  of 
the  province  of  the  same  name,  by  way  of  Katsena,  an  enormous  city  which  now  only  contains 
some  eight  thousand  inhabitants.  During  the  last  two  centuries,  the  seventeenth  and  the 
!ghteenth,  this  seems  to  have  been  the  most  important  city  of  this  part  of  the  Soudan  ;  the 
,  jcial  state,  developed  by  contact  with  the  Arabs,  had  attained  its  highest  degree  of  civilization; 
the  language,  its  richest  development  and  most  perfect  pronunciation,  and  the  inhabitants  were 
distinguished  by  their  refined  and  polite  manners  among  all  the  other  cities  of  the  Haussas. 
But  the  greater  part  of  this  prosperity  is  now  transferred  to  Kano. 

The  population  of  this  great  manufacturing  and  mercantile  town  is  estimated  to  be  about 
fifty  thousand,  and  that  of  the  province,  about  half  a  million.  The  latter,  from  its  beauty  and 
wealth,  has  been  called  the  "Garden  of  Central  Africa."  The  wall  which  surrounds  the  town 
is  fifteen  miles  in  circuit,  and  between  it  and  the  town,  which  is  circular  in  shape  and  about 
three  miles  in  diameter,  a  space  inter\'enes,  large  enough  to  supply  the  inhabitants  with  grain  in 
case  of  a  siege.  The  houses  are  built  with  clay ;  the  industr>'  consists  chiefly  in  the  weaving 
and  dyeing  of  cotton  cloths,  which  are  exported  to  the  value  of  $150,000  annuallv,  to  Timbuktu 
and  to  Tripoli  over  Bomu. 


o 

7. 

< 


50 


AFRICA    ILL  USTRA  TED. 


Earth's  description  of  his  first  impressions  of  the  city  is  worth  qnoting:  "The  sky  was 
pure,  and  the  city  with  its  various  dwellings,  its  green  pastures  traversed  by  horses,  camels, 
doukcNS  and  goats,  its  ponds  covered  with  water-plants,  its  magnificent  trees  and  its  population 
in  the  most  diverse  costumes,  from  the  scanty  apron  of  the  slave  to  the  floating  draperies  of  the 
Arab,  formed  a  picture  animated  by  a  world  complete  in  itself — entireh-  different  apparently  from 
that  of  Europe,  but  exactly  similar  in  reality.  Here  is  a  row  of  magazines  filled  with  merchan- 
dise, both  foreign  and  domestic,  the  buyers  and  the  sellers,  of  all  shades,  who  endeavor  each  to 
gain  the  utmost  possible,  and  to  deceive  his  neighbor ;  down  there,  some  open  places  where  are 
huddled  together  half-naked  slaves  dying  with  hunger,  and  whose  despairing  regards  seek  to 
discover  the  master  to  whom  they  are  to  be  delivered.  Elsewhere,  everything  that  is  necessary 
to  life;  the  rich  possessing  themselves  of  all  that  is  most  dainty,  the  poor  stooping  with  greedy 
looks  over  a  handful  of  grain.  Then  a  high  dignitary,  mounted  on  a  blooded  horse,  brilliantly 
caparisoned,  followed  by  insolent  attendants,  brushes  against  a  poor  blind  man  in  peril  at  each 
step  of  being  trodden  under  foot. 

"In  this  street  is  a  charming  cottage,  at  the  bottom  of  a  court  surrounded  by  a  palisade  of 
roses ;  a  date  palm  protects  this  retreat  against  the  heat  of  the  day  ;  the  mistress  of  the  house, 
clad  in  a  black  robe  gathered  around  the  waist,  her  hair  carefully  dressed,  is  spinning  cotton, 
watching  with  a  careful  eye  the  while  the  grinding  of  the  millet ;  the  children,  naked  and 
happy,  roll  in  the  sand  or  run  in  pursuit  of  a  goat ;  in  the  interior,  the  earthen  vases,  the  sebilla 
or  wooden  bowls,  shining  with  cleanliness,  are  ranged  carefully  in  a  row.  Farther  on  a  courtesan, 
without  family,  without  refuge,  with  a  forced  and  discordant  laugh,  her  throat  covered  with 
necklaces  and  her  disordered  hair  partly  retained  by  a  diadem,  trails  over  the  sand  her  skirt  of 
gay  colors  loosely  attached  under  her  bosom ;  behind  her,  a  wretch  covered  with  sores,  or 
deformed  by  elephantiasis ;  on  an  uncovered  spot,  a  dyeing  establishment  with  its  numerous 
workmen;  two  paces  farther  on,  a  blacksmith  finishing  a  blade,  the  edge  of  which  would  surprise 
the  stranger  who  mocks  at  the  clumsy  tools ;  in  a  little  unfrequented  street,  some  women 
spreading  skeins  of  cotton  on  a  hedge." 


ALEXANDRIA  is  the  doorway  through  which  Africa  has  been  entered  for  many  centuries, 
and  the  traveller  of  to-day  with  his  luxurious   steamer   and   his  passport  finds  in  this 
port  an  easy  transition  from  the   comforts    of   European    civilization  to   the    picturesqueness 


Cleopatra.     From  the  Painting  by  Cabanel. 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


51 


of  Africa.  Seen  from  the  harbor  the  city,  however,  is  not  particularly  majestic.  Built  on  a  flat 
plain  it  offers  no  special  ensemble  to  the  eye,  excepting  a  double  row  of  windmills  extending' 
to  right  and,  left.  These  are  said  to  be  a  remnant  of  the  French  expedition,  a  present  from  the 
soldiers  of  Kleber,  and  were  much  appreciated  by  Mehemet-Ali,  who  considerably  increased 
their  number.  As  far  as  the  eye  can  carry  they  may  be  seen,  diminishing  in  perspective  and 
endlessly  turning.  Some  graceful  minarets,  however,  and  a  column  of  the  time  of  the  Romans 
lift  themselves  as  if  in  protest  against  these  commonplace  intruders  ;  but  they  are  not  sufficient 
to  render  the  view  imposing.  The  ancient  city  of  the  Ptolemies  has  disappeared,  and  the 
modern  town  is  not  situated  exactly  on  the  site  of  the  ancient  one,  but  is  built  in  great  part  on 
the  mole  called  the  Heptastadium,  which  has  been  increased  by  alluvial  deposits  till  it  has 
become  a  broad  neck  of  land  between  the  two  harbors,  of  which  the  eastern  is  called  the  New 
Port  and  the  western  the  Old  Port.  The  largest  steamers  are  moored  to  the  eastern  quay;  and 
this  is  the  first  soil  trodden  by  the  stranger  on  arriving.  The  modern  city  does  not  reproduce  the 
splendor  of  the  ancient  one,  and  has,  indeed,  an  entirely  different  character.  The  Alexandria 
of  the  Greeks  and  Romans  was  a  city  built  and  decorated  in  the  service  of  philosophy  and  letters; 
the  new  town  is  devoted  exclusively  to  commerce. 

The  history  of  the  ancient  one  goes  back  to  its  founding  by  Alexander  the  Great,  in  the 
autumn  of  the  year  332  B.  C.  It  was  situated  originally  on  the  low  tract  of  land  which  sepa- 
rates the  lake  Mareotis  from  the  Mediterranean,  about  fourteen  miles  west  of  the  Canopic  mouth 
of  the  Nile.     Before  the  city,  in  the  Mediterranean,  lay  the  island  of  Pharos,  upon  the  north-east 


Ancient  Alexandria. 


point  of  which  rose  the  famous  lighthouse  constructed  by  the  architect,  Sostratus  of  Cnidus, 
under  the  orders  of  Ptolemy  Philadelphus.  It  is  said  that  the  builder  cut  his  own  name  deep 
in  the  rocky  foundation,  and  then  covered  this  with  concrete  in  which  appeared  that  of  his  royal 
master — to  the  end  that  when  the  more  perishable  material  had  disappeared  the  true  name  of 
the  author  of  the  work  should  appear.  The  island  was  connected  with  the  mainland  by  the 
mole  called  the  Heptastadium,  or  "Seven  Furlong"  mole,  from  its  length,  thus  forming  the 
two  harbors.  The  plan  of  the  city  was  designed  by  the  architect  Dinocrates,  and  its  original 
extent  is  said  to  have  been  about  four  miles  in  length,  with  a  circumference  of  fifteen  miles.  It 
was  intersected  by  two  straight  main  streets,  crossing  each  other  at  right  angles  in  the  centre  of 
the  cit\-.  Colonnades  adorned  the  whole  length  of  these  streets,  which  were  in  general  very 
regularly  built.  The  most  magnificent  quarter  of  the  city  was  that  called  the  Brucheium,  which 
was  situated  on  the  eastern  harbor.  This  contained  the  palaces  of  the  Ptolemies,  v^ath  the 
Museum  and  the  old  library-,  the  Soma  or  Mausoleum  of  Alexander  the  Great  and  of  the 
Ptolemies,  the  Poseidonum  and  the  great  theatre.  Farther  west  was  the  emporium,  or  exchange. 
The  Serapeion,  or  temple  of  Serapis,  stood  in  the  western  division  of  the  city,  which  formed 
the  Egyptian  quarter,  and  was  called  Rhacotis ;  a  small  town  of  that  name  had  occupied  the 
site  before  the  foundation  of  Alexandria.  To  the  west  of  the  city  la)-  the  great  Necropolis,  and 
to  the  east  the  race-course,  beyond  which  was  the  suburb  of  Nicopolis.  The  greater  part  of  the 
space  under  the  houses  was  occupied  by  vaulted  subterranean  cisterns,  which  were  capable  of 
containing  a  sufficient  quantity  of  water  to  supply  the  whole  population  of  the  city  for  a  year. 


52 


AFRICA   n.  L I 'S  TRA  TED. 


From  the  time  of  its  foundation  Alexandria  was  the  Greek  capital  of  Eg}pt.  Its  population, 
in  the  time  of  its  prosperity,  is  said  by  Diodorus  to  have  amounted  to  about  three  hundred  thou- 
sand free  citizens,  and  if  we  take  into  account  the  slaves  and  strangers,  that  number  must  be 

more  than  doubled.  This  population  con- 
sisted mostly  of  Greeks,  Jews  and  Egyptians, 
together  with  settlers  from  all  nations  of  the 
known  world.  After  the  death  of  Alexander 
the  Great  the  city  became  the  residence  of 
the  Ptolemies.  They  made  it,  next  to  Rome 
and  Antioch,  the  most  magnificent  city  of 
antiquity,  as  well  as  the  chief  seat  of  Grecian 
learning  and  literature,  which  spread  hence 
over  the  greater  part  of  the  ancient  world. 
The  situation  of  the  city,  at  the  point  of 
jiniction  between  the  east  and  the  west,  ren- 
dered it  the  centre  of  the  commerce  of  the 
world,  and  raised  it  to  the  highest  degree 
of  prosperity.  It  had  reached  its  greatest 
splendor  when  it  came  into  the  possession 
of  the  Romans,  about  30  B.  C.  From  this 
moment  its  prosperity  began  to  decline — at 
first  almost  imperceptibly,  but  afterwards 
more  rapidly  in  consequence  of  the  removal 
of  the  works  of  art  to  Rome,  the  massacres 
of  Caracalla,  the  laying  waste  of  the  Bru- 
cheium  by  Aurelian,  the  siege  and  pillage 
of  the  city  by  Diocletian,  and,  lastly,  the 
rising  prosperity  of  the  rival  city  of  Con- 
stantinople. All  these  causes  combined  to 
destroy  Alexandria  so  speedily  that  in  the 
fourth  century  no  building  of  any  impor- 
tance was  left  in  it  except  the  temple  of 
Serapis.  The  strife  between  Christianity 
and  heathenism    gave    rise    to  bloody  con- 

C^^fcv^Uf'^y^rf'ffi^^^^^^^B  3      fiicts;  the  Serapeion,  the  last  seat  of  heathen 
tt,  .-^^PIrs^^mIBVJ^^HH  theology  and  learning,  was  stormed  by  the 

'•*^**®'*^'    ^t^j^iH^iK^*      ^^Vm  Christians  in  389  A.  D.,  and  converted  into 

a  church.  This  put  an  end  to  heathenism, 
and  Alexandria  became,  henceforth,  a  chief 
seat  of  Christian  theology,  and  continued 
to  be  so  until  it  was  taken  by  the  Arabs, 
under  Amru,  in  June,  638  A.  D.  This 
siege,  and  still  more  its  conquest  by  the 
Turks  in  868  A.  D. ,  completed  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  city.  It  revived,  indeed,  in 
.some  degree  under  the  Egyptian  califs,  and 
continued  during  the  middle  ages  to  be  the 
most  important  emporium  of  trade  between 
the  east  and  the  west ;  but  the  discovery  of 
America,  and  the  passage  to  India  by  way 
of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  very  much 
diminished  the  trade  of  Alexandria.  The 
dommion  of  the  Mamalukes,  and  the  conquest  of  the  Osmanli,  annihilated  even  the  little 
which  the  Arabs  had  restored.  The  result  was  that  in  1778  A.  D.  the  citv  contained  no 
more  than  six  thousand  inhabitants.     After  the  conquest  of  Egvpt  bv  the  French,  in  the  end 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


53 


I 


I 


I 


of  the  eighteenth  century,  it  once  more  began  to  revive,  and  under  Meheniet-Ali,  who 
resided  in  it  a  part  of  every  year,  it  prospered  to  such  a  degree  that  it  nia>-  now  be  reckoned 
one  of  the  most  important  commercial  places  on  the  Mediterranean.  In  consequence  of  steam 
navigation,  the  communication  between  Europe  and  the  East  Indies  has  once  more  begun  to 
pass,  as  it  formerh-  did,  through  Alexandria.  It  is  connected  with  Cairo  by  the  canal  of  Mah- 
moudieh,  constructed 
between  1818  ar'' 
1820,  and  by  railrof 
with  Suez,  whicl 
until  recently,  w; 
the  means  of  trans 
for  passengers  ar 
freight  destined  f( 
India.  The  popul; 
tion  is  now  about 
hundred  and  seveni 
thousand  —  Arabian 
Turks,  Copts,  Jew 
Greeks  and  Franks. 
It  was  to  Alexai 
dria  that  the  gre;  l 
Julius  Caesar  cam 
in  48  B.  C,  to  inte 
pose  in  the  quarr  1 
that  had  arisen  ov 
the  succession  to  tl 
throne  of  the  Egy] 
tian  Ptolemy  Aulete 
By  the  terms  of  h 
will  this  successic 
should  have  gone  t 
his  daughter,  Cleop 
tra,  and  her  brothei 
husband,  Ptolem 
D  i  o  u  }■  s  u  s.  In  th 
Alexandrian  W 
Ptolemy  Dion  y  si 
fell,  and  Cleopat 
finally  became  seat(  I 
on  the  throne,  ai  1 
married  to  Ik 
younger  brothe 
Ptolemy,  a  boy  1 
eleven  years.  Tl 
son  she  bore  to  Ca 
sar  was  named  Cses 
rion.  It  was  i 
Alexandria  that  she 
and    Antony    spent 

the  winter  of  41-40  B.  C.  in  riotous  luxuriance ;  and  it  was  in  the 
took  the  asp  to  nurse  when  she  fell  into  the  power  of  Octavianus,  30  B.  C.  Of  the 
innumerable  reproductions  which  art  has  essayed  of  this  famous  queen,  our  illustrations 
give  two  — one  of  which  is  Makart's  glowing  and  decorative  piece,  a  sort  of  allegory  of 
her  beauty,  her  sumptuousness  and  her  power;  and  the  other,  Cabanel's  canvas  — the  last 
important  composition  of  his  life— in  which   he  depicts   her   experimenting  with   death,  her 


I   I 
I 


I 


I     ll 


I'l 


O 
< 

-I 
> 


same    citv    that    she 


I 


'*|pli''';|i  .     ■ 


x; 


II,   '     ^- 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


55 


WuKka  OF   IHE  Slez   Canal   Cu.mpa.w,   I'ukr  Said. 


trial  of  the  poisons  on   the  bodies  of  her   slaves.       It  was   at   the   Salon   of   1887    that    this 
latter  picture  first  appeared. 

East  and  south-east  of  Alexandria  lies  the  great  Nile  delta,  the  alluvial  deposit  formed  at 
the  mouth  of  the  river  from  the  deposition  of  the  particles  which  it  has  held  in  solution,  but 
which  was  considered  by  the  ancients  to  have  been  gained  from  the  sea.  The  formation  of 
deltas,  as  is  well  known,  depends  more  upon  the  presence  or  absence  of  currents  met  with  at 
the  mouth  of  a  river  than  upon  the  quantity  of  sediment  held  in  solution  when  it  reaches  the 
sea,  and  they  are  of  almost  invariable  occurrence  in  inland  lakes  and  in  the  quiet  estuaries  of 
the  nearly  tideless  Mediterranean.  That  of  the  Nile  is  a  flat  district  intersected  by  a  network 
of  primary  and  secondary  channels  and  by  numerous  canals.  A  few  miles  north  of  Cairo  the 
river  divides  into  two  main  streams,  forming  the  Rosetta  and  Damietta  branches.  It  has  a 
current  of  two  and  a  half  or  three  miles  an  hour,  constantly  running  towards  the  sea,  and  the 
stream  is  always  deep  enough  for  navigation.  The  water  is  usually  of  a  deep  blue  color,  but  it 
becomes  a  reddish  brown  during  the  annual  overflow,  the  cause  of  which,  long  problematical, 
is  now  known  to  lie  in  the  periodical  rains  which  fall  within  the  tropics.  In  all  the  lands 
bordering  on  the  Nile  the  rocks  are  covered  by  the  alluvium  deposited  during  the  inundations, 
and  which  consists  of  an  argillaceous  earth  or  loam,  more  or  less  mixed  with  sand.  There  are 
unmistakable  signs  of  a  sinking  of  the  ground  at  the  Delta.  The  Baths  of  Cleopatra  at  Alex- 
andria are  already  submerged.  In  1784  a  lagoon  was  formed  at  Aboukir  by  an  inroad  of  the 
sea,  and  the  surface  now  occupied  by  Lake  Menzaleh  was  once  a  thickh-  inhabited  region,  the 
sites  of  the  towns  and  villages  in  which  are  still  discernible  under  water.  At  the  time  of  the 
annual  inundation  the  Delta  looks  like  an  immense  marsh,  interspersed  with  islands,  villages, 
towns  and  plantations,  just  above  the  level  of  the  water.  In  these  villages  the  huts  of  the 
fellaheen  are  constructed  of  Nile  mud  and  roofed  with  palm  stems  and  leaves  daubed  over  with 
earth.  The  richer  peasants  live  in  houses  built  of  sun-dried  bricks,  while  the  magistrate  of 
the  village  not  unfrequenth'  has  a  handsome  dwelling  of  properly  burnt  bricks.  A  minaret 
often  towers  above  the  houses  and  hovels,  and  a  few  umbrageous  sycamores  spread  their  leafy 
crown,  the  chief  ornament  of  the  village  ;  slender  date  palms  sway  in  the  breeze  ;  the  long 
racemes  of  the  acacia  shed  their  delicate  perfume  by  the  side  of  thorny  sont  trees  ;  evergreen 
tamarisks  and  the  carob  with  its  long  pod  of  seeds — the  St.  John's  bread  or  locust  bean — mingle 


M   M 


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o 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


57 


with  that  stranger  from  distant  India,  the  lebbek  tree  {albizzia  lebbek),  which  has  been  natural- 
ized here  only  within  the  last  twenty  or  thirty  years.  Notwithstanding  the  extreme  poverty  of 
such  villages,  beggarly  misery  is  seldom  met  with. 

The  climate  of  Egypt  is  extremely  clear  and  dry,  especially  south  of  the  Delta  ;  and  in  the 
desert,  from  Cairo  to  Alexandria,  the  air  contains  more  moisture  than  to  the  south.  From  the 
middle  of  August  to  December,  west  winds  prevail ;  east  winds  from  that  time  till  March  ;  after 
that,  unhealthy  south  winds,  or  Khamsin,  till  June ;  and  from  June  till  August  the  north  or 
Etesian  winds  that  enable  vessels  to  ascend  the  river  against  the  stream.  The  winter  months 
are  the  most  delightful  part  of  the  year,  the  air  being  cool  and  balmy  and  the  ground  covered 
with  verdure.  It  rains  but  rarely,  except  near  the  sea-shore  ;  but  at  night  the  dews  are  heavy 
and  the  air  cool  and  refreshing.  Earthquakes  are  occasionally  felt.  The  tropical  rains,  which 
cause  the  rise  of  the  Nile,  commence  in  ii°  north  latitude  in  the  spring;  and  falling  first  into 
the  White,  and  then  the  Blue  Nile,  reach  Egypt  in  the  middle,  and  the  Delta  in  the  end,  of 
June.  In  the  middle  of  July  the  red  water  appears,  and  the  rise  may  be  dated  from  that  time ; 
it  attains  its  maximum  at  the  end  of  September  and  begins  to  decline  visibly  in  the  middle  of 
October,  subsiding  to  its  minimum  in  April.  At  the  end  of  November  the  irrigated  land  has 
dried  and  is  sown,  and  is  soon  covered  with  green  crops  which  last  till  the  end  of  February. 
In  March  is  the  harvest.  Egypt  is  by  no  means  a  remarkably  healthy  countr\-,  as,  in  addition 
to  the  visitations  of  the  plague  and  cholera,  ophthalmia,  diarrhoea,  dysentery  and  boils  often 
prevail,  and  European,  and  even  Nigritic  races  cannot  be  acclimatized. 

The  Suez  Canal  is  one  of  the  last  of  tHe  long  series  of  man's  triumph  over  the  forces  of 
nature  which  this  historic  land  has  witnessed,  and  one  of  the  proudest.  By  it  one  of  the  most 
daring  schemes  of  antiquity  has  been  realized,  and  French  enterprise  and  French  science  scored 
a  victory  rendered  all  the  more  brilliant  by  their  later  complete  defeat  at  Panama.  It  seems 
to  be  certain  that  in  ancient  times  a  canal  connected,  indirectly,  the  Red  Sea  with  the  Mediter- 
ranean. At  what  period  it  was  constructed  is  not  so  certain.  Herodotus,  a  doubtful  authority, 
ascribes  its  projection  and  partial  execution  to  Pharaoh  Necho,  about  600  B.  C.  Aristotle, 
Strabo  and  Pliny  less  felicitously  fix  on  the  half-mythical  Sesostris  as  its  originator.  The  honor 
of  its  completion  is  assigned  by  some  to  Darius,  king  of  Persia ;  by  others,  to  the  Ptolemies. 
It  began  at  about  a  mile  and  a  half  from  Suez,  and  was  carried  in  a  north-westerly  direction, 
through  a  remarkable  series  of  natural  depressions,  to  Bubastis,  on  the  Pelusiac  or  eastern 
branch  of  the  Nile.  Its  entire  length  was  ninety-two  miles,  of  which  sixty  were  cut  by  human 
labor  ;  its  width  from  a  hundred  and  eight  to  a  hundred  and  sixty-five  feet,  and  its  depth 
fifteen  feet — Plinv  savs  thirtv.     How  long  it  continued  to  be  used  we  cannot  tell ;  but  at  length 


Village  OF  Tel-el-Keeir. 


-8  AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 

it  becaiiic  clioked  up  with  sand,  was  restored  by  Trajan  earh-  in  the  second  century  of  our  era, 
and  again  became  useless  from  the  same  cause,  and  so  remained  until  the  conquest  of  Eg}'pt 
by  Amron,  the  Arab  general  of  the  calif  Omar,  who  caused  it  to  be  reopened,  and  named  it 
"The  Canal  of  the  Prince  of  the  Faithful."  Under  this  designation  it  continued  to  be  employed 
for  upwards  of  a  century,  but  was  finally  blocked  up  by  the  unconquerable  sands,  767  A.  D. 
In  this  condition  it  has  ever  since  remained.  The  attention  of  Europe  was  first  turned  to  it  in 
modern  times  during  the  invasion  of  Egypt  by  Bonaparte,  who  caused  the  isthmus  to  be  sur- 
veved  b>-  a  body  of  engineers,  who  reported  that  the  level  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea  was  thirty 
feet  below  that  of  the  Red  Sea  at  Suez,  an  opinion  which  a  subsequent  survey  proved  to  be 
erroneous.  From  this  time  the  question  continued  to  be  agitated  at  intervals,  especially  by  the 
French,  and  various  plans  were  proposed,  but  nothing  definite  was  arrived  at  till  1847,  when 
France,  England  and  Austria  sent  out  a  commission  to  measure  accurately  the  levels  of  the 
two  seas.  The  commissioners,  \I.  Talabot,  Mr.  Robert  Stephenson  and  Signor  Nigrelli,  ascer- 
tained that,  instead  of  a  difference  of  thirty  feet,  the  two  seas  have  exactly  the  same  mean  level. 
The  only  noticeable  difference  was,  that  there  is  a  tide  of  six  and  a  half  feet  at  the  one  end 
and  one  and  a  half  feet  at  the  other.  Another  examination,  leading  to  similar  results,  was 
made  in  1853.  Mr.  Stephenson  expressed  him.self  very  strongly  against  the  feasibility  of  a 
canal — that  is  to  sav,  a  canal  of  such  dimensions  as  would  suit  the  requirements  of  modern 
commerce — and  planned,  instead,  a  railroad  from  Cairo  to  Suez,  which  was  opened  in  1858,  and 
was  used  to  convey  overland  the  British,  Indian  and  Australian  mails. 

The  French,  however,  were  not  satisfied  with  Mr.  Stephenson's  conclusions,  and  M.  Talabot, 
on  his  return  to  Europe,  published  in  the  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes  a  plan  for  connecting  the 
two  seas  by  way  of  Alexandria  and  Suez — or,  rather,  a  point  six  miles  below  Suez.  In  1854  a 
ne\y  experimenter  appeared,  in  the  person  of  M.  de  Lesseps,  a  member  of  the  French  diplomatic 
service  in  Egypt,  who,  two  years  later,  obtained  from  the  pacha  the  "concession,"  i.e.,  the 
exclusive  privilege,  of  executing  a  ship-canal  from  Tyneh — near  the  ruins  of  ancient  Pelusium — 
to  Suez.  The  peculiarity  of  M.  de  Lesseps'  plan  lay  in  this,  that  instead  of  following  an  oblique 
course,  and  uniting  his  canal  with  the  Nile,  as  the  ancients  had  done,  and  as  all  the  modern 
engineers  had  thought  of  doing,  he  proposed  to  cut  one  right  through  the  isthmus  to  Suez. 
This  canal  was  to  be  three  hundred  and  twenty-eight  feet  wide  and  a  hundred  miles  long ;  the 
bottom  to  be  twenty-si.x  and  a  quarter  feet  under  low-water  mark,  arid  seventy-two  and  two- 
tenths  feet  in  breadth,  and  at  each  end  there  was  to  be  a  sluice-lock  three  hundred  and  twenty- 
eight  feet  long  by  seventy  feet  wide.  By  taking  advantage  of  the  tides  at  Suez,  it  was  hoped 
that  an  additional  depth  of  three  or  four  feet  might  be  obtained.  But  the  colossi  feature  of  his 
plan  was  the  artificial  harbors  which  he  proposed  to  execute  at  the  two  ends,  Tyneh  and  Suez. 
That  at  the  Mediterranean  end  was  to  be  carried  out  five  miles  in  order  to  obtain  a  permanent 
depth  of  water  for  a  ship  drawing  twenty-three  feet,  on  account  of  the  enorn:ous  quantity  of 
mud-sand  which  the  Nile  annually  pours  out — thirty  million  cubic  feet,  it  is  said — and  w'hich 
the  prevailing  winds  drive  eastward  along  the  shore  towards  the  southern  coast  of  Palestine. 
The  quantity  of  stone  required  to  construct  this  harbor  was  calculated  variously  at  from  three  to 
twelve  million  cubic  yards,  and  there  are  no  stone-quarries  except  at  a  great  distance  from 
Tyneh.  The  pier  at  Suez  was  to  be  carried  out  three  miles,  and  in  other  respects  the  difficulties, 
though  great,  were  not,  as  on  the  Mediterranean  coast,  almost  insurmountable. 

The  English,  for  political  as  well  as  for  practical  reasons,  looked  with  aversion  on  M.  de 
Le.sseps'  scheme ;  but  in  1855  the  question  was  again  taken  up  in  an  international  spirit,  a  new 
European  commission  was  appointed,  which  reported  that  M.  de  Lesseps'  scheme,  somewhat 
modified,  was  practicable,  and  that  a  canal  might  profitably  be  constructed.  The  result  of  the 
report  was  the  formation  of  a  company,  and  after  four  years'  work  the  canal,  which  has  its 
Mediterranean  entrance  at  Port  Said,  about  the  middle  of  the  narrow  neck  of  land  between  Lake 
Menzaleh  and  the  sea,  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  Delta,  was  completed.  From  Port  Said  the 
canal  crosses  about  twenty  miles  of  this  lake— which  is  a  salt-water  shallow,  closely  resembling 
the  lagoons  of  Venice,  and  with  a  depth  of  from  one  to  ten  feet.  Beyond  this,  heavier  work 
began;  the  height  of  the  ground  above  the  level  of  the  .sea  ranging  from  fifteen  to  thirteen  feet. 
The  distance  to  Abu  Ballah  Lake  is  eleven  miles,  and  from  there  to  Temsah  Lake,  another 
eleven,  the  ground  varying  from  thirty  to  eighty  feet  in  height.     This  lake  is  three  miles  across. 


AFRICA   ILL  US TRA  TED. 


59 


Ismailia,  ou  Temsali  Lake,  is 
regarded  as  the  central  point 
of  the  canal.  While  the  work 
was  in  progress  it  grew  rapidly 
from  an  Arab  village  to  a 
French  town,  with  the  houses 
of  engineers  and  managers, 
hotels,  shops,  cafes,  a  theatre 
and  a  central  railwa\'  station — 
the  tents  of  the  native  labor- 
ers forming  a  distinct  town  at 
a  little  distance.  A  fresh-water 
canal  was  constructed  from  the 
Nile  to  Temsah  Lake  to  sup- 
ply with  water  the  population 
accumulated  at  various  points 
along  the  canal,  and  it  was  also 
temporarily*  used  for  naviga- 
tion. One  section  extended 
north-easterly  from  the  Nile  to 
Ismailia,  another  nearly  south 
from  this  point  to  Suez,  and 
the  third  nearly  north  from 
Ismailia  to  Port  Said.  Both 
the  latter  sections  were  on  the 
western  side  of  the  great  canal; 
the  first  and  second  are  really 
canals,  large  enough  to  accom- 
modate small  steamers  and 
barge  traffic,  but  the  third 
section  consists  merely  of  a 
large  iron  pipe  through  which 
the  water  is  conveyed  to  the 
several  stations.  Plugs  are  in- 
serted in  the  pipe,  wherever 
needed,  to  allow  water  to  be 
drawn  off  for  every-day  wants. 
The  canal  crosses  Temsah 
Lake  to  Toussoum  and  the 
Serapeum,    cutting    through    a  ^"^ 

plateau  forty-six  feet  above 
the  sea.  Southward  of  the 
central  point  at  Ismailia,  there 
is  a  space  of  eight  miles  from 
Temsah    Lake   to   the   commencement 


A  Cat-Father  on  a  Pilgrimage  to  Mecca. 


of 


depth  varying  from  thirty  to  sixty-two  feet. 


the  Bitter  Lakes,  which  had  to  be  excavated  to  a 
In  these  deep  cuttings,  owing  to  the  great  widi^h 
of  the  canal,  the  quantity  of  sand— for  it  is  nearly  all  sand,  though  sometimes  agglomerated 
with  clay — to  be  dug  out  was  enormous,  requiring  the  constant  labor  of  a  large  number  of 
powerful  dredging  machines  and  elevators.  In  passing  through  the  Bitter  Lakes,  on  the 
contrary,  the  work  was  rather  embanking  than  excavating — the  bottom  of  this  region  being 
only  two  or  three  yards  above  the  bottom  of  the  canal.  From  the  southern  end  of  the  Bitter 
Lakes  to  Suez,  a  distance  of  about  thirteen  miles,  there  is  another  series  of  heavy  cuttings 
through  the  stony  plateau  of  Chalouf,  varying  from  thirty  to  fifty-six  feet  in  depth.  Where  the 
cutting  is  thus  difficult,  the  surface  width  is  reduced  considerably  from  the  regular  width  of 
three  hundred  and  twentv-seven  feet.     On  the  iSth  of  March,  1869,  the  waters  of  the  Mediter- 


6o 


AFRICA   IL L I  \S TRA  TED. 


ranean  were  admitted  into  tlit-  Bitter  Lakes  witii  complete  success,  in  the  presence  of  the  Viceroy 
of  Egypt.  In  September,  a  steamer,  with  M.  de  Lesseps  on  board,  made  the  passage  along  the 
whole  lenj,'th  of  the  canal  in  fifteen  hours,  and  the  practicability  of  the  great  work,  which  English 
politicians  had  labored  to  prove  the  most  costl\  and  extravagant  of  chimeras,  was  conclusively 
proved. 

Earlv  in  Xovcmber  M.  de  Lesseps  gave  formal  notice  that  the  canal  would  be  opened  through- 
out on  Xovenibcr  17,  1S69,  and  extended  an  invitation  to  some  of  the  crowned  heads  of  Europe. 
The  preliminaries  commenced  on  the  15th,  when  the  Emperor  of  Austria  landed  at  Port  Said. 
On  the  i6th  the  Empress  Eugenie  arrived,  and  on  the  17th  the  French  imperial  yacht  L'Aigle, 
followed  by  tbrtv  vessels,  anchored  at  Ismailia,  having  pa.ssed  through  the  first  part  of  the  canal 


in  eight  and  a  half  hours,  and  was  here  met 
by  four  steamers  from  Suez,  the  southern 
terminus  of  the  canal  ;  on  the  19th  of 
November  the  fleet  sailed  for  Suez,  and  on 
the  2 1st  arrived  in  the  Red  Sea.  The  water 
was  twenty  feet  deep  at  the  shallowest  part 
of  the  canal,  and  generally  not  less  than 
twenty-five  feet.  The  canal  is  open  to 
vessels  of  all  nations,  and  the  transit  can 
be  made  in  fifteen  hours.  It  had  cost 
about  sixty  million  dollars.  The  English 
goveniment,  believing  the  route  to  India  menaced,  soon  took  measures  to  secure  possession  of  a 
controlling  influence  in  the  canal  company. 

Port  Said  or  Said,  a  town  which  had  no  existence  in  1862,  contained  ten  thousand  inhabitants 
in  1875.  It  was  the  depot  of  the  company,  the  metropolis  of  vast  bodies  of  laborers  and  other 
persons  employed  on  the  works  of  the  canal.  The  illustration,  from  a  view  taken  in  1862,  shows 
the  works  of  the  company  on  the  present  site  of  the  town,  where  the  canal  issues  from  Lake 
Menzaleh.  .Vs  the  Mediterranean  Sea  is  very  shallow  near  this  point,  an  artificial  deep  channel 
had  to  be  made,  bounded  east  and  west  by  piers  stretching  far  out  into  the  sea.  Stone  for  these 
piers  was,  in  the  first  instance,  brought  from  a  long  distance  ;  but  artificial  stone  was  afterwards 
made  on  the  spot.  It  was  composed  of  two  parts  of  sand  and  one  part  of  hydraulic  lime,  ground 
into  a  paste,  and  poured  into  wooden  boxes,  or  moulds.     When  the  mixture  was  solidified,  the 


1I|;iI'a1  ii!ifm(l'l,iiil!', 


i!i*iii"'' 


If; 

I' 


"liiill 


62 


AIKICA    ILL L  STRA TED. 


Schoolmaster  of  Cairo. 


mould-boards  were  reiiio\'ed  and  the  solid  blocks  left  from  three  to  six  months  in  the  open  air 
to  dry  and  harden.  They  contained  ten  cubic  metres  each,  weighed  twenty  tons,  and  were  made 
at  a  contract  price  of  fort\-two  francs  per  metre  cube.  The  western  pier  has  a  length  of  seven 
thousand  feet,  and  the  eastern,  of  six  thousand  ;  they  are  four  thousand  six  hundred  feet  apart 
at  the  shore,  but  gradually  approach  each  other,  so  that  at  the  outer  ends  they  are  only  twentv- 
thrcc  hundred  feet  apart.  The  western  pier  is  continued  in  an  arc  of  eleven  hundred  yards' 
extent,  so  as,  with  the  eastern  pier,  to  shelter  the  harbor  from  all  winds.  Within  this  outer 
harbor  is  an  inner  port  which  is  kept  at  a  uniform  depth  of  thirty  feet  by  means  of  steam- 
dredging.     The  lighthouse,  with  its  electric  light,  is  one  hundred  and  eightv  feet  high. 

Suez  was,  until  recently,  a  small,  ill-built,  wretched  town,  on  an  angle  of  land  near  the 
northern  extremity  of  the  Gulf  of  Suez,  seventy-six  miles  from  Cairo,  with  which  it  is  connected 
by  a  railroad.  It  is  walled  on  all  sides  but  that  toward  the  sea,  and  had  an  indifferent  harbor, 
but  a  tolerably  good  quay.  It  is  now  greatly  improved.  English  and  French  houses,  offices 
|and  warehouses  have  been  erected  in  every  direction,  and  the  bazars  have  assumed  a  respectable 
appearance.  The.se  bazars  are  supplied  with  clarified  butter  from  Sinai,  with  fowls,  grain  and 
vegetables  from  the  Egyptian  province  of  Sharkijeh,  and  with  wood,  dates  and  cotton.  Rain  falls 
but  seldom  ;  sometimes  not  once  in  three  years.     All  around  stretches  a  burning  waste  of  sand. 

The  isthmus  of  Suez,  though  now  but  a  sandy  waste,  embraces  within  its  limits,  according 
to  the  commonly  received  opinion,  the  fertile  land  of  Goshen  of  antiquity.  The  large  engraving 
of  a  panorama  of  the  isthmus  will  give  the  reader  a  clear  idea  of  the  situation  of  the  canal. 

About  half-way  between  Ismailia  and  the  Nile,  on  the  route  of  the  fresh-water  canal,  is  the 
little  village  of  Tel-el-Kebir,  the  chateau  of  which,  constructed  in  1823  by  Mehemet-Ali,  was 
occupied  by  the  principal  manager  of  the  company  during  the  construction  of  the  canal.  This 
village  acquired  a  greater  renown  by  the  victory  won  there,  September  13,  1882,  by  the  English, 
under  Gen-'-al  Wolseley,  over  the  Egyptian  forces  of  Arabi  Pacha. 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


63 


Still  nearer  the  Nile,  about  fourteen  miles  north  of  Belbeys,  are  the  ruins  of  the  famous 
ancient  cit}'  of  Bubastis,  the  modern  Tel  Basta,  the  Pi-beseth  of  Scripture,  which  derived  its 
name  from  the  Egyptian  goddess  Bubastis.  When  the  gods  fled  into  Egypt,  Diana  Bubastis  is 
said  to  have  changed  herself  into  a  cat,  and  those  animals  were,  in  consequence,  held  in  great 
veneration  here.  Ovid  speaks  of  the  goddess  as  an  attendant  of  Isis,  in  the  nocturnal  visit 
which  the  latter  divinity  pays  to  the  anxious  wife  of  Ligdus ;  Diodorus  Siculus  represents  her  to 
have  been  the  same  as  Isis ;  Herodotus  says  that  Diana  was  worshipped  by  the  Egyptians  under 
her  name,  and  the  modern  Egyptologist,  Ebers,  identifies  her  with  Sekhet,  the  lioness-headed 
daughter  of  Ra.  Under  certain  auspices,  the  head  of  the  latter  terrible  divinity  is  represented 
as  that  of  a  cat;  surmounted  by  the  solar  disk  she  personifies  the  devouring  heat  of  the  sun;  as 
a  cat  or  a  lioness  she  tears  burning  wounds  in  the  limbs  of  the  guilty  in  the  nether  world,  and 
her  gifts  are  drunkenness  and  pleasure.  She  incites  men  to  the  hot  and  wild  passion  of  love, 
and  she  was  also  named  Bast  and  Astarte,  after  her  sister  divinity  among  the  Phoenicians. 
Historians,  to  whom  we  owe  the  description  of  her  festivals  at  Bubastis,  tell  us  that  dead  cats  were 
embalmed  and  then  sent  to  be  buried  in  this  city.  No  trace  remains  of  the  tombs  of  the  cats, 
but  the  memory  of  the  ancient  sanctity  of  the  animal  has  not  altogether  died  out  in  modern 
times.  It  is  not  very  long  since  that,  in  Cairo,  a  considerable  sum  was  bequeathed  by  will  for 
the  maintenance  of  starving  cats.  Until  within  a  few  decades,  each  caravan  of  pilgrims  to 
Mecca  was  accompanied  by  an  old  woman,  who  carried  with  her  a  number  of  cats,  and  was  known 
as  "the  mother  of  cats  ;"  and  to  this  day,  a  man  with  cats  tra\-els  with  each  caravan  to  Mecca. 
This  singular  custom  is  probably  a  relic  of  the  ancient  faith  which  caused  the  bodies  of  cats  to 
be  brought  to  Bubastis.  Herodotus  declares  that  the  temple  of  the  goddess  here  was  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  in  Eg>-pt,  and  that  vast  numbers  of  persons  were  wont  to  make  annual  pilgrimages 
to  it.  Nothing  but  some  stones — which  are  of  the  finest  red  granite — now  remain  of  this  temple. 
There  are  some  other  ruins,  and  mounds  of  great  extent,  consisting  chiefly  of  the  remains  of 
brick  houses  and  heaps  of  broken  pottery. 

The  capital  of  Egypt,  Cairo — in  Arabic,  Mtisr el Kaherah,  "the  victorious  capital" — is  situated 
on  a  sandy  plain,  between  the  right  bank  of  the  Nile  and  the  ridge  of  Mokattam,  about  ten  miles 
above  the  point  where  the  river  divides.  As  the  houses  are  generally  low — from  one  to  three 
stories  in  height — it  occupies  a  large  extent  of  ground  in  proportion  to  its  population.     From 


Arab  Conversation. 


64 


AFRICA    ILL  US TRA  TED. 


Abyssinian  Female  Slave. 


the  foundation  of  the  cit\-,  in  969,  the  Fatimite  califs  of  Africa,  who  brought  the  bones  of  their 
ancestors  with  them  from  Kairon,  reigned  for  ten  generations  over  the  land  of  Egjpt.  The  calif 
Hakem,  who  built  a  mosque  near  Bab-el-Nassr,  and  who  is  the  supposed  founder  of  the  Druse 
religion,  was  the  third  in  this  succession.  In  the  year  1171,  Saladin  usurped  the  throne  from  the 
last  of  the  Fatimites.  His  descendant,  Moosa-el-Ashref,  was  dejDosed  in  his  turn  in  1250;  and 
from  that  time  till  151 7,  when  the  city  was  stormed  and. taken  by  Sultan  Selim,  Cairo  was  governed 
by  a  succession  of  Mameluke  kings.  It  has  been  to  a  considerable  extent  Europeanizcd  under  the 
last  khedive,  whose  ambition  it  was  to  make  of  his  capital  an  Eastern  Paris.  It  still  preser\'es, 
however,  in  its  labyrinth  of  narrow  lanes,  its  flat-roofed  houses  without  gables,  chimneys  or 
window-panes,  its  large  bazars,  in  which  all  kinds  of  Oriental  wares  are  exposed  for  sale,  its  forest 
of  minarets  rising  above  the  mosques  on  all  sides,  thoroughly  Arabic  characteristics.  The  narrow, 
dark  and  unpaved  streets  are  in  some  places  arched  over  ;  the  bazars  are  dark  and  gloomy,  and 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


65 


the  houses  are  built  of  variegated  brick,  with  interlinings  of  wood.  The  city  is  divided  into 
different  quarters;  one  being  appropriated  to  the  Turks,  one  to  the  Christians,  one  to  the  Jews, 
etc., — each  separated  from  the  adjoining  one  by  a  strong  gate  at  the  end  of  the  streets.  These 
gates  are  closed  by  night  and  are  guarded  by  a  porter,  who  opens  when  anyone  wishes  to  pass. 
The  general  aspect  of  the  city,  viewed  from  the  eminence  on  which  the  citadel  stands,  is  a 


o 
U 

< 

la 
O 


o 
o 
a 

o 

g 

S 

Q 
U 


striking  one — one  of  the  grandest,  indeed,  that  the  East  aflfords.  For,  besides  the  picturesque  city 
itself,  that  eminence  commands  a  view  of  the  green  plain  watered  by  the  Nile  behind  the  city, 
the  gigantic  pyramids  of  Gizeh  in  the  immediate  neighborhood,  the  pyramids  of  Sakkara  farther 
off,  the  white  mountains  of  Mokattam  and  the  graves  of  the  califs,  and  the  wide  and  dreary 
expanse  of  the  desert.  The  most  remarkable  buildings  in  the  city  are  the  minarets  and  mosques. 
The  minarets  are  the  most  beautiful  of  any  in  the  L,evant,  of  a  prodigious  height,  and  built  of 


66  AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 

alteruate  layers  of  red  aud  white  stone.  The  most  ancient  of  them  all  is  that  attached  to  the 
creat  mosque  of  Sultan  Tayloon.  This  mosque  was  built  in  the  year  of  the  Hegira  265 
(870  A  D  )  before  the  foundation  of  the  city,  and  consists  of  an  immense  cloister,  or  arcade, 
built  on  pointed  arches,  being  the  earliest  extant  in  that  form.  Another  magnificent  mosque 
is  that  of  the  Sultan  Hassan,  situated  in  the  place  of  the  Roumayli,  near  the  citadel,  and  which 


was  finished  about  the  year  1362  A.  D.  It  has  two  very  high  and  elegant  minarets ;  and  the 
mosque,  in  consequence  of  its  size  and  the  thickness  of  its  walls,  was  frequently  seized  and 
made  use  of  as  a  fortress  by  the  insurgents  in  the  numerous  rebellions  aud  insurrections  which 
were  always  taking  place  at  Cairo  under  the  rule  of  the  Mameluke  kings.  Stains  of  blood  are 
still  to  be  traced  on  the  marble  walls  of  the  courtyard. 

The  population  of  the  city  consists  of  the  ruling  class — who  are  all  Turks;  Arabs,  the 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


67 


former  conquerors  of  the  land,  who  form  the  bulk  of  the  population — all  the  petty  tradesmen 
and  cultivators  of  the  soil  being  of  Arab  origin  ;  Copts,  who  are  descended  from  the  original 
lords  of  the  soil,  the  ancient  Egyptians ;  Jews,  Armenians,  Syrians,  Africans  and  Europeans. 
Among  the  crowds  that  throng  the  streets  are  an  extraordinary  proportion  of  blind  persons;  the 
people  of  Egypt  being  very  liable  to  be  afflicted  with  ophthalmia.  Among  every  four  Egyp- 
tians, it  has  been  said,  there  will  be  one  blind  man,  one  with  only  one  eye,  one  blear-eyed  and 
the  fourth  with  perfect  eyesight.  It  is  not  the  intensity  of  the  light  that  blinds  ;  it  is  owing  a 
little  to  the  dust  and  a  great  deal  to  want  of  care  in  infancy.  He  who  would  teach  the  cure  of 
the  eye  to  the  race  of  Pharaoh  would,  in  twenty  years,  double  the  number  of  useful  men,  as 
well  as  the  riches  of  Egypt.  The  one-eyed  men  were,  formerly,  for  the  most  part,  unfortunate 
wretches,  mutilated  by  themselves  or  by  the  cowardice  of  their  parents.  In  the  days  of  Moham- 
med, Ibrahim  and  Abbas,  everyone  was  so  fearful  of  being  employed 
as  a  soldier  that  fathers  destroyed  their  children's  eyes,  or  cut  the 
pupils,  in  order  to  unfit  them  for  military  service. 

Of  the  objects  most  worthy  of  note  in  the  environs  of  Cairo  are  the 
mausoleum  of  Sultan  Bergook,  a  triumph  of  Saracenic  architecture, 
and  the  tombs  of  the  califs,  the  latter  situated  about  a  mile  beyond 
the  walls — magnificent  and  imposing  buildings,  beautiful  specimens 
of  Arabian  architecture.  The  public  gardens,  which  consist  of  groves 
of  orange,  citron,  palms  and  vines,  are  also  very  heautiful. 

Cairo  is  the  seat  of  learning  for  the  East,  and  is  celebrated  for  the 
eminence  of  its  professors,  especially  those  of  Mohammedan  theology 
and  jurisprudence.  There  is  a  university  or  college  attached  to  the 
mosque  of  Ezher,  and  a  considerable  Oriental  library.  In  this 
university,  grammar,  arithmetic,  algebra,  rhetoric,  etc.,  are  taught, 
and  lectures  delivered  on  logic,  theology,  the  exposition  of  the 
Koran,  moral,  criminal  and  civil  law,  etc.  The  number  of  students, 
who  congregate  here  from  all  parts  of  the  Mohammedan  world,  is 
about  two  thousand,  and  the  instruction  is  given  gratuitously,  the 
professors  subsisting  on  private  instruction  and  on  presents  from  the 
wealthy.  Besides  this  university  there  are  other  schools  where  gram- 
mar, writing  and  arithmetic  are  taught,  and  others  devoted  to  arts  and 
sciences,  and  engineering.  At  Abou  Zabel  there  is  also  a  school  of 
anatomy,  medicine  and  surgery.  The  language  spoken  at  Cairo  is 
Arabic,  which,  though  not  the  purest,  is  superior  to  that  spoken  in 
Syria.  The  city  is  the  official  residence  of  the  Khedive,  and  the  resi- 
dence of  a  consul-general  from  Great  Britain,  France  and  other 
countries.     A  railroad  now  connects  it  with  its  seaport,  Alexandria. 

The  manners  aiid  customs  of  Cairo  may  be  taken  as  a  type  of 
those  of  the  more  cultured  parts  of  the  Mohammedan  world,  and  are 
marked  with  a  seriousness  in  the  minor  affairs  of  social  life  and  an 
attention  to  the  precepts  of  their  religion  in  all  its  details  that  render 
them  in  this  respect,  as  in  most  others,  a  curious  contrast  with  those 
of  the  most  enlightened  nations  of  Europe.      In  few  cases  are  the 

Mohammedans  so  much  fettered  by  the  directions  of  their  Prophet  and  other  religious  institutors 
as  in  the  rearing  and  education  of  their  children.  In  matters  of  the  most  trivial  nature,  religious 
precedents  direct  their  management  of  the  young.  One  of  the  first  duties  is  to  wrap  the  new- 
born infant  in  clean  white  linen,  or  in  linen  of  some  other  color,  but  not  yellow.  After  this, 
some  person,  not  a  female,  should  pronounce  the  adan  in  the  ear  of  the  infant,  because  the 
Prophet  did  so  in  the  ear  of  El-Hasan  when  Fatimeh  gave  birth  to  him;  or  he  should  pronounce 
the  adan  in  the  right  ear  and  the  ikamch,  which  is  nearly  the  same,  in  the  left.  The  adan  is  the 
call  to  prayer  which  is  chanted  from  the  minarets  of  the  mosques.  It  is  as  follows:  "God  is 
most  great !"  repeated  four  times  ;  "I  testify  that  there  is  no  deity  but  God  !"  twice ;  "I  testify 
that  Mohammed  is  God's  apostle!"  twice;  "Come  to  prayer!"  twice;  "Come  to  security!" 
twice;  "God  is  most  great !"  twice;    "  There  is  no  deity  but  God  I" 


Grand  Gallery  in  the 
Great  Pyramid. 


^■^%J! 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED.  69 

It  was  formerly  a  custom  of  many  of  the  Arabs  for  the  father  to  give  a  feast  to  his  friends  on 
seven  successive  days  after  the  birth  of  a  son,  but  that  of  a  daughter  was  observed  with  less 
rejoicing.  The  general  modern  custom  is  to  give  an  entertainment  only  on  the  seventh  day, 
which  is  called  Gom  es-Subooa.  On  this  occasion,  the  mother,  having  left  her  bed,  receives  her 
guests;  the  child  is  exhibited  to  them,  and  they  give  presents  of  gold  or  silver  coins,  which 
are  generally  used  to  decorate  the  infant's  head-dress.  The  father  entertains  his  friends  in 
the  evening. 

The  children  of  Mohammedans  are  taught  to  show  their  fathers  a  degree  of  respect  that 
might  be  deemed  incompatible  with  the  existence  of  a  tender  mutual  affection ;  but  this  is  not 
generally  the  case.  The  child  greets  the  father  in  the  morning  by  kissing  his  hand,  and  then 
usually  stands  before  him  in  a  respectful  attitude,  with  the  left  hand  covered  by  the  right,  to 
receive  any  order  or  to  await  his  permission  to  depart ;  but,  after  the  respectful  kiss,  he  is  often 
taken  on  the  lap.  After  the  period  of  infancy  the  well-bred  son  seldom  sits  in  the  presence 
of  his  father ;  but  during  that  period  he  is  generally  allowed  much  familiarity.  Mr.  Edward 
William  Lane,  the  distinguished  translator  of  the  "Thousand  and  One  Nights,"  relates  that  one 
of  his  near  neighbors  in  Cairo,  a  Syrian  merchant,  had  a  child  of  exquisite  beauty,  commonly 
supposed  to  be  his  daughter,  whom,  though  he  was  a  most  bigoted  Moslem,  he  daily  took  with 
him  from  his  private  house  to  his  shop.  The  child  followed  him,  seated  upon  an  ass,  before  a 
black  slave ;  and,  until  about  six  \-ears  old,  was  dressed  like  most  young  ladies,  but  without  a 
face-veil.  The  father,  then  thinking  that  the  appearance  of  taking  about  with  him  a  daughter 
of  that  age  was  scandalous,  dressed  his  pet  as  a  boy,  and  told  his  friends  that  the  female  attire 
had  been  employed  as  a  protection  against  the  evil  eye  ;  girls  being  less  coveted  than  boys. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  the  natives  of  Arabian  countries,  where  a  very  trifling  expense  is 
required  to  rear  the  young,  should  be  generally  desirous  of  a  numerous  offspring.  A  motive  of 
self-interest  conduces  forcibly  to  cherish  this  feeling  in  a  wife,  for  she  is  commonly  esteemed  b\- 
her  husband  in  proportion  to  her  fruitfulness.  And  a  man  is  seldom  willing  to  divorce  a  wife, 
or  to  sell  a  slave,  who  has  borne  him  a  child.  A  similar  feeling  also  induces  in  both  parents  a 
desire  to  obtain  offspring  and  renders  them,  at  the  same  time,  resigned  to  the  loss  of  such  of  their 
children  as  die  in  tender  age.  This  feeling  arises  from  their  belief  in  certain  services,  of  greater 
moment  than  the  richest  blessings  this  world  can  bestow,  which  children  who  die  in  infancy  are 
to  render  to  their  parents.  The  Prophet  is  related  to  have  said  that  when  the  infant  children  of 
the  true  believers  shall  have  assembled,  with  all  other  creatures,  at  the  scene  of  judgment  on  the 
day  of  the  general  resurrection,  they  will  refuse  to  enter  Paradise  without  their  parents,  and  that 
the  latter  will  then  all  be  admitted  on  the  children's  prayer.  To  this  tradition  the  following 
anecdote  is  added:  A  certain  man,  who  would  not  take  a  wife,  awoke  one  day  from  his  sleep  and 
demanded  to  be  married,  saying,  as  his  reason,  ' '  I  dreamt  that  the  resurrection  had  taken  place, 
and  that  I  was  among  the  beings  collected  at  the  scene  of  judgment,  but  was  suffering  a  thirst 
that  stopped  up  the  passage  of  my  stomach  ;  and  lo  !  there  were  youths  passing  through  the 
assembly,  having  in  their  hands  ewers  of  silver  and  cups  of  gold,  and  giving  drink  to  one  person 
after  another;  so  I  stretched  forth  my  hand  to  one  of  them,  and  said,  'Give  me  to  drink,  for  thirst 
overpowereth  me;'  but  they  answered,  'Thou  hast  no  child  among  us:  we  give  drink  only  to  our 
fathers.'  I  asked  them,  'Who  are  ye?'  They  replied,  'We  are  the  deceased  infant  children  of  the 
Moslems.'  "  Especial  rewards  in  heaven  are  promised  to  mothers.  "When  a  woman  conceives  by 
her  husband,"  said  the  Prophet,  "she  is  called  in  heaven  a  martyr  \i.e.  she  is  ranked  as  a  martyr 
in  dignity];  and  her  labor  in  childbed  and  her  care  for  her  children  protect  her  from  hell-fire." 

As  soon  as  a  son  is  old  enough,  his  father  should  teach  him  the  most  important  rules  of 
decent  behavior.  Placing  some  food  before  him  he  should  order  him  to  take  it  with  the  right 
hand  (the  left  being  employed  for  unclean  purposes),  and  to  say  on  commencing,  "In  the  name 
of  God ;"  to  eat  what  is  next  to  him,  and  not  to  hurry,  nor  spill  any  of  the  food  upon  his  person 
or  dress.  He  should  teach  him  that  it  is  disgusting  to  eat  much.  He  should  particularly 
condemn  to  him  the  love  of  gold  and  silver,  and  caution  him  against  covetousness  as  he  would 
against  serpents  and  scorpions ;  and  forbid  his  spitting  in  an  assembly,  and  committing  any 
similar  breach  of  good  manners,  talking  much,  turning  his  back  upon  another,  standing  in  an 
indolent  attitude,  and  speaking  ill  of  any  person  to  another.  He  should  keep  him  from  bad 
companions,  teach  him  the  Koran  and  all  requisite  divine  and  prophetic  ordinances,  and  instruct 


70 


AFRICA  ILLUSTRATED. 


him  in  the  arts  of  swijnming  and  archer}-,  and  in  some 
virtuous  trade  —  for  trade  is  a  security  from  poverty. 
He  should  also  command  him  to  endure  patiently  the 
chastisements  of  his  teacher. 

Circumcision  is  generally  performed  before  the  boy 
is  submitted  to  the  instruction  of  the  schoolmaster. 
Previously  to  the  performance  of  this  rite,  he  is,  if  be- 
longing to  the  higher  or  middle  rank  of  society,  usually 
paraded  about  the  neighborhood  of  his  parents'  dwel- 
ling, gaily  attired,  chiefly  with  female  habit  and  orna- 
ments, but  with  a  boy's  turban  on  his  head,  mounted 
on  a  horse,  preceded  by  musicians  and  followed  by  a 
group  of  his  female  relations  and  friends.  This  cere- 
mony is  observed  by  the  great  with  much  pomp  and 
with  sumptuous  feasts.  The  historian  El-Jabartee 
mentions  a  fete  celebrated  on  the  occasion  of  the 
circumcision  of  the  son  of  the  Kadee  of  Cairo,  in  the 
year  of  the  Flight  1179  (A.  D.  1766),  when  the  grandees 
and  chief  merchants  and  ulama  of  the  city  sent  him 
such  abundance  of  presents  that  the  magazines  of  his 
mansion  were  filled  with  rice  and  butter  and  honey  and 
sugar ;  the  great  hall,  with  coffee,  and  the  middle  of 
the  court,  with  firewood.  The  public  were  amused  for 
many  days  by  players  and  performers  of  various  kinds; 
and  when  the  youth  was  paraded  through  the  streets 
he  was  attended  b}-  numerous  mamelukes  with  their 
richly  caparisoned  horses  and  splendid  anns  and  armor 
and  military  band,  and  by  a  number  of  other  youths, 
who,  from  compliment  to  him,  were  afterwards  circum- 
cised with  him.  This  latter  custom  is  usual  on  such 
occasions,  and  so  also  is  the  sending  of  presents,  such  as  those  above  mentioned,  by  friends, 
acquaintances  and  trade.s-people.  At  a  fete  of  this  kind,  when  the  Calif  El  Muktedir  circumcised 
five  of  his  sons,  the  mone\-  that  was  scattered  in  presents  amounted  to  six  hundred  thousand 
pieces  of  gold,  or  about  $1,500,000.  Many  orphans  were  also  circumcised  on  the  same  da>-,  and 
were  presented  with  clothes  and  pieces  of  gold.  At  the  more  approved  entertainments,  which 
are  given  in  celebration  of  a  circumcision,  a  recital  of  the  whole  of  the  Koran,  or  a  siki\  is 
performed ;  at  some  others,  male  or  female  public  dancers  perform  in  the  court  of  the  house,  or 
in  the  street  before  the  door. 

Few  of  the  children  of  the  Arabs  receive  much  instruction  in  literature,  and  still  fewer  are 
taught  even  the  rudiment  of  any  of  the  higher  sciences ;  but  there  are  numerous  schools  in 
their  towns,  and  one  at  least  in  almost  every  moderately  large  village.  The  former  are  mostly 
attached  to  mosques  and  other  public  buildings,  and,  together  with  these  buildings,  endowed  by 
princes  or  other  men  of  rank,  or  wealthy  tradesmen  — like  that  attached  to  the  mosque  of 
Ezher,  in  Cairo.  The  schoolmaster  generally  teaches  nothing  more  than  to  read  and  to  recite 
by  heart  the  whole  of  the  Koran.  After  committing  to  memory-  the  first  chapter  of  the  sacred 
volume,  the  boy  learns  the  rest  in  the  inverse  order  of  their  arrangement,  as  they  generally 
decrease  in  length.     Writing  and  arithmetic  are  usually  taught  by  another  master. 

One  more  duty  of  the  father  to  the  son  is  considered  to  be  very  important — that  is,  to  procure 
for  him  a  wife  as  soon  as  he  has  arrived  at  a  proper  age.  This  age  is  decided  by  some  to  be 
twenty  years;  though  many  young  men  marr>'  at  an  earlier  period.  It  is  said,  "When  a  son 
has  attained  the  age  of  twenty  years,  his  father,  if  able,  should  marry  him,  and  then  take  his 
hand,  and  .say,  '  I  have  disciplined  thee,  and  taught  thee,  and  married  thee :  I  now  seek  refuge 
with  God  from  thy  mischief  in  the  present  world  and  in  the  next.'  " 

Tlie  female  children  of  the  Arabs  are  seldom  taught  even  to  read.  Though  they  are  admis- 
sible at  the  daily  schools  in  which  the  boys  are  instructed,  verj-  few  parents  allow  them  the 


Head  of  Queen  Nefer-t-ari.     From 
THE  Temple  Abu  Simbei.. 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


71 


benefit  of  fhis  privilege  ;  preferring,  if  they  give  them  any  instruction  of  a  literar>'  kind,  to 
employ  a  sheykhah  (or  learned  woman)  to  teach  them  at  home.  She  instructs  them  in  the  forms 
of  prayer,  and  teaches  them  to  repeat  b)-  heart  a  few  chapters  of  the  Koran,  very  rarely  the  whole 
book.  Parents  are,  indeed,  recommended  to  withhold  from  their  daughters  some  portions  of  the 
Koran.  Needle-work  is  not  so  rarely,  but  \et  not  generally,  taught  to  Arab  girls ;  the  spindle 
frequently  employs  those  of  the  poorer  classes,  and  some  of  them  learn  to  weave.  The  daughters 
of  persons  of  the  middle  and  higher  ranks  are  often  instructed  in  the  art  of  embroidery  and  in 
other  ornamental  work,  which  are  taught  in  schools  and  in  private  houses.  Singing  and  playing 
upon  the  lute,  which  were  formerly  not  uncommon  female  accomplishments  among  the  wealthy 
Arabs,  are  now  almost  exclusively  confined,  like  dancing,  to  professional  performers  and  a  few 
of  the  slaves  in  the  harems  of  the  great.  It  is  very  seldom  now,  it  is  said,  that  any  musical 
instrument  is  seen  in  the  hand  of  an  Arab  lady,  except  a  kind  of  drum,  called  darabukkeh,  and 
a  tar,  or  tambourine,  which  are  found  in  many  harems,  and  are  beaten  with  the  fingers.     Some 


■iV    ^^ms^^ 


je^ 


Greater  Temple  at  Abu  Simbel,  South  Side. 


care,  however,  is  bestowed  by  mothers  in  teaching  their  daughters  what  they  consider  an  elegant 
gait  and  carriage,  as  well  as  various  alluring  and  voluptuous  arts  with  which  to  increase  the 
attachment  of  their  future  husbands. 

Marriage  is  regarded  by  the  Moslems  in  general  as  a  positive  duty;  and  to  neglect  it,  without 
a  sufficient  excuse,  subjects  a  man  to  severe  reproach.  "When  a  servant  [of  God],"  said  the 
Prophet,  "marries,  verily  he  perfects  half  his  religion." 

The  number  of  wives  whom  a  Mohammedan  may  have  at  the  same  time  is  four.  He  may 
marry  free  women,  or  take  concubine  slaves,  or  have  of  both  these  classes.  The  custom  of 
keeping  an  unlimited  number  of  concubines,  however,  was  common  among  wealthy  Moslems  in 
the  first  century  of  the  Mohammedan  era,  and  has  so  continued.  The  true  believer  may  divorce 
his  wife  twice,  and  each  time  take  her  back.  This  he  may  do,  even  against  her  wish,  during  a 
fixed  period,  which  cannot  extend  beyond  three  months,  excepting  under  certain  conditions. 
If  he  divorce  her  a  third  time,  or  by  a  triple  sentence,  he  cannot  take  her  again  unless  with  her 


72 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


own  consent,  and  by  a  new  contract,  and  after  an- 
other marriage  has  been  consummated  between  her 
and  another  husband,  and  this  husband  also  has 
divorced  her. 

It  is  not  a  common  custom,  especially  among  the 
middle  ranks,  for  an  Arab  to  have  more  than  one 
wife  at  a  time  ;  but  there  are  few  men  of  middle  age 
who  have  not  had  several  different  wives  at  different 
periods,  tempted  to  change  by  the  facility  of  divorce. 
The  Arab  writers  mention  several  cases,  some  of 
them  among  the  companions  of  Mohammed,  of  men 
who  were  very  frequently  married:  Mugheyreh  Ibn- 
Shedbeh  married  eighty  women  in  the  course  of  his 
life ;  Mohammed  Ibn-Et-Teiyib,  the  Dyer,  of  Bag- 
dad, who  died  in  the  year  of  the  Flight  423,  aged 
eightv-five  vears,  married  during  his  lifetime  more 
than  nine  hundred  women.  The  women,  in  general, 
cannot,  of  course,  marry  so  many  husbands ;  not 
only  because  a  woman  cannot  have  more  than  one 
husband  at  a  time,  but  also  because  she  cannot 
divorce  her  husband.  There  have  been,  however, 
many  instances  of  Arab  women  who  have  married 
a  surprising  number  of  men  in  rapid  succession. 
Among  these  may  be  mentioned  Umm-Kharijeh, 
who  gave  occasion  to  a  proverb  on  the  subject. 
This  woman,  who  was  of  the  tribe  of  Bejeeleh,  in 
El-Yemen,  married  upwards  of  forty  husbands;  and 
her  son  Kharijeh  knew  not  who  was  his  father. 
She  used  to  contract  a  marriage  in  the  quickest 
possible  manner:  a  man  saying  to  her,  "Khit- 
bun"  (betrothal),  she  replied  "Nik-hun"  (mar- 
riage), and  thus  became  his  lawful  wife.  She 
had  a  very  numerous  progeny,  several  tribes  origi- 
nating from  her. 

For  the  choice  of  his  wife  a  man  generally  relies 
on  his  mother,  or  .some  other  near  female  relation, 
or  a  professional  female  betrother  (who  is  called 
Khatibch) ;  for  there  are  many  women  who  perform  this  office  for  hire.  The  law  allows 
him  to  see  the  face  of  the  female  whom  he  proposes  to  marry,  previously  to  his  making 
the  contract;  but  in  the  present  day  this  liberty  is  seldom  obtained,  except  among  the 
lower  orders.  Unless  in  this  case,  a  man  is  not  allowed  to  see  unveiled  any  woman  but 
his  own  wife  or  slave,  and  to  those  women  to  whom  the  law  prohibits  his  uniting  himself 
in  marriage.  According  to  some  authorities,  he  is  not  allowed  to  see  his  own  niece  unveiled, 
though  he  may  not  marry  her.  A  slave  may  lawfully  see  the  face  of  his  own  mistress ;  but 
this  privilege  is  seldom  granted  in  the  present  day  to  any  slave  but  a  eunuch.  An  infringe- 
ment of  the  law  above  mentioned  is  held  to  be  extremely  sinful  in  both  parties.  "The 
curse  of  God,"  .said  the  Prophet,  "is  on  the  seer  and  the  .seen."  Yet  it  is  ver>'  often 
disregarded  in  cases  of  women  of  the  lower  orders.  A  man  may  not  have  at  the  same  time 
two  wives  who  are  sisters,  or  aunt  or  niece  ;  he  is  forbidden  also  to  marry  his  unemancipated 
slave,  or  another  man's  slave  if  he  has  already  a  free  wife ;  and  to  marry  any  woman  but  one  of 
his  own  faith,  or  a  Christian  or  a  Jewess.  A  Mohammedan  woman,  however,  may  only  marry 
a  man  of  her  own  faith.  A  girl  is  often  married  at  the  age  of  twelve  years,  and  sometimes  at 
ten,  or  even  nine  ;  the  usual  period  is  between  twelve  and  sixteen  years.  At  the  age  of  thirteen 
or  fourteen  she  may  be  a  mother. 

The  most  important  requisite  in  a  wife  is  considered  to  be  religion,  and  after  that,  agreeable- 


KamesEs  and  Anukeh.     Fko.m  B.mt-el-WaU. 


74  AFRICA  ILLUSTRATED. 

ness  of  temper  and  beautv  of  form,  moderation  in  the  anionnt  of  dowry  required  and  good  birth. 
It  is  said  bv  high  authority,  "If  thou  marry  not  a  virgin  [which  is  most  desirable],  marry  a 
divorced  woman,  and  not  a  widow ;  for  the  divorced  woman  will  respect  thy  words  when  thou 
sayest,  'If  there  were  anv  good  in  thee,  thou  hadst  not  been  divorced;'  whereas  the  widow  will 
say,  'May  God  have  mercy  on  such  a  one!    He  hath  left  me  to  one  unsuited  to  me.'  "     But, 

according  to  another  of 
these  selfish  maxims,  the 
woman  most  to  be  avoided 
is  she  who  is  divorced  from 
a  man  by  whom  she  has 
had  a  child ;  for  her  heart 
is  with  him,  and  she  is  an 
enemy  to  the  man  who 
marries  her  afterwards. 
Modesty,  fruitfulness  and 
contentment  are  also  desir- 
able qualities  in  a  wife,  and 
to  secure  the  latter  virtue, 
many  men  make  their 
selection  from  among  the 
classes  inferior  to  them  in 
rank.  Others,  with  a  simi- 
lar view,  prefer  a  concubine 
slave  in  the  place  of  a  wife. 
The  consent  of  a  girl 
not  arrived  at  the  age  of 
puberty  is  not  required ; 
her  father,  or,  if  he  be 
dead,  her  nearest  adult 
male  relation,  or  a  guar- 
dian appointed  by  will  or 
by  the  cadi,  acts  as  her 
zuekeel,  or  deputy,  to  effect 
the  marriage-contract  for 
her.  If  of  age,  she  ap- 
points her  own  deputy.  A 
dowry  is  required  to  legal- 
ize the  marriage  ;  and  the 
least  dowry  allowed  by  the 
law  is  ten  dirhems,  or 
drachms  of  silver,  about  a 
dollar  and  a  quarter.  Mo- 
hammed married  certain  of 
his  wives  for  a  dowry  of  ten 
dirhems  and  the  household 
necessaries,  which  were,  a 
handmill  to  grind  the 
grain,  a  water-jar  and  a 
pillow  of  skin  or  leather 
stuffed  with  the  fibres  of 
the  palm  tree,  which  are  called  /rcf;  but  some  he  married  for  a  dowry  of  five  hundred  dirhems. 
With  the  increase  of  wealth  and  lu.xury  dowries  have  increased  in  amount;  but,  to  our  ideas,  they 
are  still  trifling;  a  sum  equivalent  to  about  a  hundred  dollars  being  a  common  dowry  among  Arabs 
of  the  middle  class  for  a  virgin,  and  half,  or  a  third,  or  a  quarter  of  that  sum  for  a  divorced 
woman  or  a  widow.     Two-thirds  of  the  sum  is  usually  paid  before  making  the  contract,  and 


Rubbish-Bearer,  Abvdos. 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED.  75 

the  remaining  portion  held  in  reserve  to  be  paid  to  the  woman  in  case  of  her  divorce,  or  in  case 
of  her  husband's  death.  The  father  or  guardian  of  a  girl  under  age  receives  the  former  portion 
of  her  dowry;  but  it  is  considered  as  her  property,  and  he  generally  expends  it,  with  an  addi- 
tional sum  from  his  own  purse,  in  the  purchase  of  necessary  furniture,  dress,  etc.,  for  her,  which 
the  husband  can  never  take  from  her  against  her  own  wish. 

The  bride  is  conducted  to  the  bridegroom's  house  in  the  afternoon  immediately  preceding 
the  night  of  consummation.  On  the  day  before  this,  she  goes  to  the  public  bath,  accompanied  by 
a  number  of  her  female  relations  and  friends.  The  procession  generally  pursues  a  circuitous 
route,  for  the  sake  of  greater  displa>%  and  on  leaving  the  house  turns  to  the  right.  Following 
the  time-honored  custom,  this  promenade  is  performed  on  foot;  the  European  carriages,  so  much 
in  favor  with  the  Arabs  of  late  years,  are  on  this  occasion  discarded.  Very  slowly,  often  coming 
to  a  standstill  in  the  busy  thoroughfares,  do  they  wend  their  way.  The  procession  is  headed 
by  Arab  musicians  with  lutes,  tambourines,  flutes  and  a  clarionet;  then  follow  the  married  women, 
looking  like  bats  in  their  black  silk  wrappers.  Behind  them  come  the  young  girls  in  white 
veils,  and  close  upon  these  follows  the  bride  herself,  so  closely  and  carefully  enveloped  in  a  red 
cashmere  shawl  that  it  is  hardly  possible  to  discover  the  faintest  outline  of  her  figure.  The  only 
ornament  she  wears  is  a  handsome  gold  coronet.  Two  of  her  relations  walk  on  each  side  of  her 
with  much  dignity ;  a  canopy  of  bright  red  stuflT,  borne  on  four  poles,  waves  over  her,  and 
embroidered  scarfs  hang  from  it  and  flutter  in  the  wind ;  more  musicians  follow  in  the  rear. 
This  procession  halts  from  time  to  time,  with  much  complacency,  to  afford  a  treat  for  the  ears  and 
eyes  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  street  through  which  it  passes,  and  it  finally  disappears  in  the 
bath-house,  which  has  been  hired  for  the  occasion,  and  where  a  handkerchief  fastened  up  over 
the  doorway  indicates  that  it  is  to  be  visited  by  women  only.  In  the  case,  however,  of  a  bride 
of  high  rank,  or  of  wealth,  and  often  in  the  case  of  one  belonging  to  a  family  of  the  middle 
class,  the  ladies  ride  upon  high-saddled  asses,  without  music  or  canopy;  and  the  bride  is  only 
distinguished  by  a  cashmere  shawl  instead  of  the  usual  black  silk  covering ;  one  or  more 
eunuchs  sometimes  riding  at  the  head.  In  the  bath,  after  the  ordinary  operations  of  washing, 
etc. ,  a  feast  is  made,  and  the  party  are  often  entertained  by  female  singers.  Having  returned 
in  the  same  manner  to  her  home,  the  bride's  friends  there  partake  of  a  similar  entertainment 
with  her.  Her  hands  and  feet  are  then  stained  with  henna,  and  her  eyes  ornamented  with 
kohl ;  and  her  friends  give  her  small  presents  of  money,  and  take  their  leave. 

The  following  day  the  procession  sets  out  for  the  bridegroom's  house  with  similar  pomp. 
The  train  is  usually  headed  by  buffoons  and  musicians  playing  Arab  melodies  on  European 
brass  instruments — a  hideous  and  ear-splitting  innovation.  Two  half-naked  wrestlers  generally 
ornament  the  head  of  the  procession,  and  a  water-carrier  loaded  with  a  goat-skin  filled  with  sand 
and  water,  of  very  great  weight,  which  he  has  carried  already  several  hours  and  with  which  on 
his  back  he  dances  and  postures  to  amuse  the  spectators.  A  third  characteristic  personage 
sometimes  joins  the  wedding  procession — a  tumbler,  who  can  stand  on  his  head,  or  more  com- 
monly, walks  backward  and  forward  with  a  face  of  tragic  dignity,  balancing  his  long  pole  with 
marvelous  skill,  or  making  it  quiver  and  spin  between  his  fingers.  Then  follow,  interrupted  by 
groups  of  male  or  female  dancers,  jugglers,  etc.,  numerous  decorated  open  wagons,  or  cars,  each 
of  which  contains  several  members  of  some  particular  trade  or  art,  engaged  in  their  ordinary 
occupations,  or  one  such  person  with  attendants. 

The  bride  and  her  party,  having  arrived  at  the  house,  sit  down  to  a  repast.  The  bridegroom 
does  not  yet  see  her.  He  has  already  been  to  the  bath,  and  at  nightfall  he  goes  in  procession 
with  a  number  of  his  friends  to  a  mosque  to  perform  the  night-prayers  ;  he  is  accompanied  by 
musicians  and  singers,  or  by  chanters  of  lyric  odes  in  praise  of  the  Prophet,  and  by  men  bearing 
lighted  cressets ;  and  on  his  return  most  of  his  other  attendants  bear  lighted  wax  candles  and 
bunches  of  flowers.  Returned  to  his  house,  he  leaves  his  friends  in  a  lower  apartment  and  goes 
up  to  the  bride,  whom  he  finds  seated,  with  a  shawl  thrown  over  her  head,  so  as  to  conceal  her 
face  completely,  and  attended  by  one  or  two  females.  The  latter  he  induces  to  retire,  by  means  of 
a  small  present.  He  then  gives  a  present  of  money  to  the  bride,  as  "the  price  of  uncovering  the 
face,"  and  having  removed  the  veil— saying,  as  he  does  so,  "In  the  name  of  God,  the  Compas- 
sionate, the  Merciful," — he  beholds  her,  generally  for  the  first  time.  On  the  occasion  of  this 
first  visit,  which  is  called  the  dukhool  or  dukhleh,  he  is  recommended  to  perfume  himself,  and  to 


76 


AFRICA  ILLUSTRATED. 


sprinkle  some  sugar  and  almonds  on  the  head  of  the  bride  and  on  that  of  each  woman  with  her; 
this  practice  being  established  by  existing  usage  and  by  traditions ;  also,  when  he  approaches  the 
bride  he  should  perform  the  prayers  of  two  rek'ahs;  and  she  should  do  the  same,  if  able  ;  then 


o 


v.Xn':-\  ,:',_,.  ,'liil(ir:iiU. 


he  should  take  hold  of  the  hair  over  her  forehead,  and  say,  "O,  God,  bless  me  in  mv  wife,  and  bless 
my  wife  in  me!  O,  God,  bestow  upon  me  [offspring]  by  her,  and  bestow  upon  her  [offspring]  by  me! 
O,  God,  unite  us,  as  Thou  hast  united,  happily,  and  separate  us,  when  Thou  separatest,  happily!" 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


77 


Junction  of  the  White  and  Blue  Niles. 


A  slave,  among  the  Mohammedans,  is  either  a  person  taken  captive  in  war  or  carried  off 
by  force,  and  being  at  the  time  of  capture  an  infidel ;  or  the  offspring  of  a  female  slave  by 
another  slave,  or  by  any  man  who  is  not  her  owner,  or  by  her  owner,  if  he  does  not  acknowledge 
himself  to  be  the  father ;  but  the  offspring  of  a  male  slave  by  a  free  woman  is  free.  A  person 
who  embraces  the  Mohammedan  faith,  after  having  been  made  a  slave,  does  not  by  this  act 
become  free,  unless  he  flees  from  an  infidel  master  to  a  Moslem  country,  and  there  becomes  a 
Mohammedan.  A  man  cannot  have  as  a  slave  one  whom  he  acknowledges  to  be  within  the 
prohibited  degrees  of  marriage.  The  slaves  of  the  Arabs  are  mostly  from  Abyssinia  and  the 
Negro  countries ;  a  few,  mostly  in  the  houses  of  wealthy  individuals,  are  from  Georgia  and 
Circassia.  Abyssinian  and  white  female  slaves  are  kept  by  many  men  of  the  middle  and  higher 
classes,  and  often  instead  of  wives,  as  requiring  less  expense  and  being  more  subser\-ient ;  but 
they  are  generally  indulged  with  the  same  luxuries  as  free  ladies,  their  vanity  is  gratified  by 
costly  dresses  and  ornaments,  and  they  rank  high  above  free  ser\-ants,  as  do  also  the  male  slaves. 
They  are  mostly  kidnapped  and  sold  by  their  own  coxmtrymen.  Many  of  them  are  very  beau- 
tiful. The  negro  female  slaves,  few  of  whom  have  considerable  personal  attractions,  are  usually 
employed  only  in  cooking  and  other  menial  offices.  The  female  slaves  of  the  higher  classes  are 
often  instructed  in  plain  needlework  and  embroidery,  and  sometimes  in  music  and  dancing. 
Formerly,  many  of  them  possessed  sufficient  literary  accomplishments  to  quote  largely  from 
favorite  poems,  or  even  to  compose  extemporan.'  verses,  which  they  would  often  accompany  with 
the  lute.  The  condition  of  many  concubine  slaves  is  happy,  and  that  of  many  quite  the 
contrary-.  These,  and  all  other  slaves  of  either  sex,  are  generally  treated  with  kindness ;  but  at 
first  they  are  usually  importuned,  and  not  infrequently  used  with  much  harshness,  to  induce 
them  to  embrace  the  Mohammedan  faith  ;  which  almost  all  of  them  do.  Their  services  are 
commonly  light ;  the  usual  office  of  the  male  white  slave,  who  is  called  memlook  or  mameliike, 
is  that  of  a  page  or  military  guard.  Eunuchs  are  employed  as  guardians  of  the  women  ;  but 
only  in  the  houses  of  men  of  high  rank  or  great  wealth :  on  account  of  the  important  and 
confidential  office  which  they  fill,  they  are  generally  treated  in  public  with  especial  considera- 
tion. Mr.  Lane  says,  "I  used  to  remark,  in  Cairo,  that  few  persons  saluted  me  with  a  more 
dignified  and  consequential  air  than  these  pitiable,  but  self-conceited,  beings."  Most  of  them 
are  Abyssinians  or  Negroes. 

Three  miles  west-south-west  from  Cairo,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  lies  the  village 
of  Ghizeh,  or  Gizeh,  the  Coptic  Tpersioi.  In  the  immediate  vicinity  is  the  northern  boundary' 
of  Middle  Eg>'pt,  and  here  the  line  of  the  great  pyramids  begins.  In  this  neighborhood,  also, 
the  fate  of  Egypt  has  been  twice  decided  in  battle — once  by  the  Fatimide  army  of  Djauhar,  in 


78  AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 

969  A.  D.,  and  once  by  the  French,  under  Bonaparte,  in  1798.  Ghizeh,  formerly  adorned  with 
beautiful  pahices  and  mosques,  the  pleasant  retreat  of  the  Cairo  merchants,  is  now  a  mere 
village,  and  mounds  of  rubbish  are  almost  the  only  indication  that  buildings  of  some  pretension 
once'existed  here.  One  remnant  of  its  antiquity  remains,  however,  the  process  of  egg-hatching 
in  ovens,  a  practice  that  has  been  continued  from  the  time  of  the  Pharaohs  to  the  present  day. 

The  Great  Pyramid  of  Ghizeh  is  situated  on  a  hill  six  miles  west  of  the  Nile  and  ninety 
miles  from  the  Mediterranean.  Its  base  is  two  hundred  and  fifteen  feet  above  the  sea- level.  The 
builder  was  Cheops,  of  the  fourth  Egyptian  dynasty,  the  Chembes,  or  Chemmis,  of  Diodorus, 
and  the  Suphis  of  Manetho  and  Eratosthenes,  and  the  p>Tamid  is  supposed  to  have  been  his 
sepulchre.  The  height  was  four  hundred  and  eighty  feet  nine  inches,  and  the  base,  seven 
hundred  and  sixty-four  feet  square;  the  slope,  or  angle,  51°  50'.  The  original  sepulchral 
chamber,  called  the  Subterranean  Apartment,  forty-six  by  twenty-seven  feet,  and  eleven  feet 
six  inches  high,  is  hewn  in  the  solid  rock,  and  was  reached  by  the  original  passage,  three 
hundred  and  twenty  feet  long,  which  descended  to  it  by  an  entrance  at  the  foot  of  the  pyramid. 
The  excavations  in  this  direction  were  subsequenth-  abandoned,  on  account  of  the  vast  size 
attained  by  the  pyramid,  which  rendered  it  impracticable  to  carry  on  the  entrance  on  a  level 
with  the  natural  rock,  which  had  been  cut  down  and  faced  for  that  purpose.  Accordingly,  a 
second  chamber,  with  a  triangular  roof,  was  constructed  in  the  masonry  of  the  pyramid,  seven- 
teen by  eighteen  feet  nine  inches,  and  twenty  feet  three  inches  high.  This  was  reached  by  a 
passage  rising  at  an  inclination  of  26°  18',  terminating  in  a  horizontal  passage.  It  is  called  the 
Queen's  Chamber,  and  occupies  a  position  nearly  in  the  centre  of  the  pyramid.  The  monument 
— probably  owing  to  the  long  life  attained  by  the  monarch — still  progressing,  a  third  chamber, 
called  the  King's,  was  finally  constructed,  by  prolonging  the  ascending  passage  of  the  Queen's 
Chamber  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet  farther  into  the  very  centre  of  the  pyramid  and,  after  a  short 
horizontal  passage,  making  a  room  seventeen  feet  one  inch  by  thirty-four  feet  three  inches,  and 
nineteen  feet  one  inch  high.  To  diminish,  however,  the  pressure  of  the  superincumbent  masonry 
on  the  flat  roof,  five  small  chambers  were  made  vertically  in  succession  above  the  roof,  the  last  one 
pointed,  var}'ing  in  height  from  one  foot  four  inches  to  eight  feet  seven  inches,  the  apex  of  the 
top  one  being  rather  more  than  sixty-nine  feet  above  the  roof  of  the  King's  Chamber.  The 
illustration  shows  the  lower  landing-place  of  the  ascending'  passage  leading  to  the  King's 
Chamber,  called  the  Grand  Gallery,  and  the  construction  of  which  is  very  remarkable.  It  is  a 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  long,  fifty-eight  and  three-quarter  inches  wide,  and  twenty-eight  feet  high. 
Its  walls  are  divided  into  seven  sections,  one  overtopping  the  other,  the  space  between  the  walls 
diminishing  towards  the  roof  On  either  side  is  a  long  stone  bench,  or  "ramp,"  each  with 
twenty-eight  precisely  cut  square  holes,  the  purpose  of  which  is  a  mysterj'.  The  end  of  the 
horizontal  passage  was  finished  in  a  superior  style,  and  cased  with  red  syenitic  ;  and  in  the  King's 
Chamber  is  the  granite  sarcophagus  of  Cheops,  seven  feet  six  and  a  half  inches  long,  three  feet 
three  inches  broad,  and  three  feet  five  inches  high.  As  the  heat  of  this  chamber  was  stifling, 
owing  to  want  of  ventilation,  two  small  air-channels,  about  nine  inches  square,  were  made, 
ascending  to  the  north  and  south  sides  of  the  pyramid.     They  perfectly  ventilate  the  chamber. 

Three  hundred  feet  east  of  the  second  pyramid  of  Ghizeh  is  the  great  Sphinx,  sculptured 
out  of  a  spur  of  the  natural  rock  and  built  up  with  masonry  to  complete  the  form.  It  is  a  hun- 
dred and  fifty-five  feet  long,  and  sixty-three  feet  high.  Immediately  in  front  of  the  breast, 
Caviglia  found,  in  1S16,  a  small  uaox,  or  chapel,  formed  of  three  hieroglyphical  tablets,  dedicated 
by  the  monarchs  Thotmes  III.  and  Rameses  II.,  to  the  Sphinx,  whom  they  adore  under  the 
name  of  Haremakhu,  or  Harmachis,  as  the  Greek  inscriptions,  found  at  the  same  place,  call  it, 
i.e.y  the  Sun  on  the  Horizon.  Recent  excavations  have  again  revealed  between  the  mason-built 
paws,  and  running  underneath  its  body,  a  curious  "temple,"  with  six  compartments,  one  above 
the  other,  with  a  grand  staircase  leading  to  it  from  the  plain.  A  writer  in  the  English  hiter- 
natioiial  S/andard,  in  1887,  says  of  the  latest  discovery:  "There  is  a  passage  leading  from 
between  the  paws  of  the  Sphinx,  running  diagonally  to  the  Great  Pyramid,  the  entrance  to 
which  is  covered  by  a  large  stone.  Underneath  the  pyramid  is  a  spacious  chamber  supported 
by  car\-ed  pillars.  There  is  also  an  entrance  to  the  pyramid  on  the  west  side.  In.  the  King's 
Chamber  there  is  a  stone  behind  the  coffer  which  revolves  on  a  pivot,  but  which  is  fastened  on 
the  outside  by  two  bolts.     This  is  on  the  west  side."     These  assertions  are  accompanied  by  the 


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8o  AFRICA   ILLJSTRATED. 

following,  from  an  old  manuscript:  "  In  a  tomb  behind  the  Sphinx,  from  the  mouth  of  a  mummy- 
pit  cijjhty  feet  deep,  the  echoes,  prolonged,  of  a  gun  fired  in  the  heart  of  the  pyramid  were  heard, 
while  the  gun  fired  at  the  foot  of  the  pyramid  was  scarcely  audible.  This  fact  proves  a  hidden 
labyrinth  beneath  the  table-land." 

The  limits  of  the  present  volume  do  not  permit  of  any  but  the  briefest  allusion  to  the  vestiges 
of  the  most  ancient  civilization.  Those  of  the  island  of  Phikc  in  the  Nile,  though  not  of  the 
most  ancient,  are  distinguished  for  their  great  architectural  beauty.  The  full-page  illustration 
shows  the  oldest,  the  ruins  of  the  hypa-thral,  or  roofless  hall,  built  in  the  reign  of  Nectanebus  I., 
377-357  ^-  C-.  and  dedicated  to  Isis.  The  principal  remains  consist  of  the  great  temple  of  Isis, 
erected  by  Ptolemy  II.,  or  Philadelphus,  and  continued  by  his  successors,  especially  by  Ptolemy 
III.,  Eurgetes,  247-222  B.  C,  with  propylseums  constructed  by  Ptolemy  VII.,  or  Philonieter, 
and  Lathyrus.  The  beautiful  little  temple,  the  Mastabat  cl  Pharaouti,  or  "Pharaoh's  Bed,"  of 
the  Arabs,  was  built  in  the  reign  of  Trajan,  100  A.  D.  The  temples  are  principally  important 
as  containing  the  principal  representations  of  the  story  of  Osiris,  his  birth,  bringing  up,  death, 
and  embalmment  by  Isis.  Commenced  in  the  reign  of  Nectanebus  I.,  and  continued  by  the 
Ptolemies  and  Romans,  the  worship  of  Isis  lingered  here  till  453  A.  D.,  or  sixty  years  later  than 
the  edict  of  Theodosius.  After  the  subjection  of  the  Blemmyes  to  the  Nubian  Christians,  the 
temple  was  converted  into  a  church  and  the  paintings  daubed  with  mud  ;  and,  in  577  A.  D.,  the 
bishop  Theodorus  changed  the  pronaos  of  the  temple  of  Isis  into  the  church  of  St.  Stephen;  and 
a  Coptic  church,  at  a  later  period,  was  built  out  of  the  ruins.  The  whole  area  of  the  ancient 
temple  was  about  four  hundred  and  thirty-five  feet  long  by  a  hundred  and  thirt3'-fi\'e  broad,  in 
the  centre  of  the  dromos.     At  the  present  day,  the  island  is  deserted. 

Of  temples  excavated  in  the  solid  rock,  two  fine  examples  are  found  at  Abu  Simbel,  in 
Nubia.  Belzoni  says  that  the  larger  was  excavated  by  Rameses  II. ,  the  Great,  in  honor  of  Amun 
and  Phre ;  while  his  wife  Nofre  Ari,  or  Nefer-ari,  dedicated  the  other  to  Hathor. 

The  facade  of  the  larger  temple  is  shown  by  the  illustration  on  page  71,  and  is  guarded  by 
four  seated  colossi,  likewise  carved  out  of  the  living  rock,  and  representing  the  king  and  the 
gods  Ra  and  Isis  and  Ptah — all  of  them  with  the  countenance  of  Rameses.  And,  strange  to 
say,  not  only  here  but  in  all  the  many  sculptured  portraits  of  this  Pharaoh  may  be  traced  a 
strong  resemblance  to  his  well-preserved  mummy,  now  in  the  museum  at  Bulaq.  The  fagade 
of  this  great  temple  measures  about  one  hundred  feet  in  height,  and  in  width  the  same.  The 
length  of  the  head  of  one  of  these  figures  is  ten  feet  six  inches ;  that  of  the  ears,  three  feet  five 
inches ;  the  width  of  the  shoulders,  twenty-two  feet  two  inches ;  the  inside  length  of  the  fore- 
arm, fifteen  feet ;  from  the  hip  to  the  front  knee,  twenty-six  feet  six  inches  ;  from  the  top  of  the 
knee  to  the  sole  of  the  foot,  twenty-two  feet ;  length  of  one  of  the  feet,  thirteen  feet  six  inches. 

The  famous  so-called  statue  of  Memnon,  one  of  the  wonders  of  the  ancient  world,  is  one  of 
two  colossi  seated  on  the  plains  of  Thebes,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Nile,  at  a  place  called  Koum- 
el-Sultan.  Both  are  seated  on  thrones,  and  represent  the  monarch  Amenophis  III.,  of  the 
eighteenth  dynasty,  whose  name  and  titles  are  inscribed  on  the  plinths  behind.  At  the  sides  of 
the  throne  are  sculptured  the  wife  and  mother  of  the  monarch,  about  eighteen  feet  high.  The 
height  of  each  of  these  colossi  appears  to  have  been  originally  sixty  feet,  and  they  are  made  of 
a  coarse,  hard  gritstone,  or  breccia.  They  were  originally  placed  before  the  propylon  of  an 
Amenopheion,  or  palace-temple  of  Amenophis  III.,  in  this  quarter  at  Thebes.  The  easternmost 
of  the  two  is  the  celebrated  vocal  statue,  distinguished  from  its  companion  by  having  been 
anciently  broken  and  repaired  from  the  lap  upwards  with  blocks  of  sandstone,  placed  horizontally, 
in  five  layers.  The  statue  was  either  injured  by  Cambyses,  to  whom  the  Egyptian  priests  ascribe 
most  of  the  mutilations  of  the  Theban  temples,  or  else  thrown  down  by  an  earthquake.  The 
peculiar  characteristic  of  this  statue  was  its  giving  out,  at  various  times,  a  sound  resembling  the 
breaking  of  a  harp-string  or  a  metallic  ring ;  and  considerable  difference  of  opinion  has  prevailed 
as  to  the  reason  of  this  sound — which  has  been  heard  in  modern  times — it  being  ascribed  to  the 
artifice  of  the  priests,  who  struck  the  sonorous  stone  of  which  the  statue  is  composed,  the  passage 
of  light  draughts  of  air  through  the  cracks,  or  the  sudden  expansion  of  aqueous  particles  under 
the  influence  of  the  sun's  rays.  This  remarkable  quality  of  the  statue  is  first  mentioned  by 
Strabo,  who  visited  it  in  company  with  ^lius  Gallus,  about  18  B.C. ;  and  upwards  of  a  hundred 
inscriptions  of  Greek  and  Roman  visitors  incised  upon   its  legs,  record  the  visits  of  ancient 


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82  AFRICA    ILLUSTRATED. 

travellers  to  witness  the  phenomenon,  from  the  ninth  year  of  Nero  63,  A.D.,  to  the  reign  of 
the  Emperor  Severus,  when  it  became  silent.  Amongst  other  visitors  whose  names  are  recorded 
arc  those  of  the  Emperor  Hadrian  and  his  wife  Sabina ;  Septimus  Severus  also  visited  the  statue 
and  is  conjectured  to  have  restored  it,  for  Juvenal  speaks  of  it  as  broken  in  half,  and  no  notice  of 
it  occurs  under  the  Pharaohs  or  Ptolemies.  The  identity  of  this  statue  as  Memnon  is  mentioned 
in  the  gloss  upon  Manetho,  and  by  Pausanias  and  the  inscriptions.  Memnon  was  the  son  of 
Tithonus  and  Eos  or  Aurora,  and  led  to  Troy  a  host  of  ^Ethiopians  to  support  the  Trojan  cause 
after  the  fall  of  Hector,  and  was  killed  by  Ajax  or  Achilles.  By  others  he  is  supposed  to  have 
been  a  ruler  of  the  nations  between  Susa  and  Troy,  or  a  vassal  of  the  Assyrian  monarch 
Teutamus,  who  sent  him  with  ten  thousand  Ethiopians  and  as  many  Susians  to  the  Trojan  war. 

The  laboring  agricultural  Egyptians  are  known  as  fellahs.  They  are  the  original  inhabitants 
much  mixed  with  Arab  blood,  and  are  a  long-suffering  and  most  down-trodden  race.  Denon,  in 
his  "Voyage  en  Eg>-pte,"  thus  describes  the  physical  characteristics  of  the  modern  Egyptians: 
"Full,  but  delicate  and  voluptuous  forms;  with  eyes,  long,  almond-shaped,  half-shut,  and 
languishing,  and  turned  up  at  the  outer  angles,  as  if  habitually  fatigued  by  the  light  and  heat 
of  the  sun;  cheeks  round;  thick  lips,  full  and  prominent;  mouths  large,  but  cheerful  and 
smiling;  complexions  dark,  ruddy  and  coppery,  and  the  whole  aspect  displaying — as  one  of  the 
most  graphic  delineators  among  modern  travellers  has  observed — the  genuine  African  character, 
of  which  the  negro  is  the  exaggerated  and  extreme  representation." 

The  fertile  valley  of  the  Nile  and  the  desert  regions  which  enclose  it  are  very  different,  not 
onh'  in  their  botany,  but  in  their  zoology.  One  of  the  most  notable  Egyptian  quadrupeds  is  the 
hippopotamus,  which  formerly  reached  the  Delta,  but  is  now  to  be  seen  only  in  the  more  southern 
parts  of  the  Nile.  The  giraffe  is  occasionally  found  within  the  southern  borders  of  Egypt.  The 
jackal  and  the  hyena  are  common;  also  the  ichneumon,  so  much  celebrated  among  the  ancients, 
and  the  jerboa.  The  one-humped  camel  was  originally  introduced  by  the  Ptolemies  for  the 
transit  of  the  Indian  trade.  The  other  usual  domestic  quadrupeds  have  existed  from  the  most 
ancient  times.  The  buffaloes,  which  were  formerly  in  great  numbers,  have  been  of  late  years 
greatly  reduced.  They  were  formerly  watched  in  herds  by  the  fellah  boys,  and  ridden  into  the 
Nile  for  water  by  women,  but  the  pressing  demand  for  cotton  during  the  American  war  and  the 
introduction  of  new  breeds  of  cattle  have  led  to  their  diminution. 

Nubia,  the  ancient  Ethiopia,  is  now  merely  a  geographical  term,  the  country-  having  been 
politically  incorporated  with  Egypt  by  Mehemet  Ali,  in  1820.  It  extends  from  the  southern  fron- 
tier of  Egypt  proper  to  the  Egyptian  Soudan — about  15°  N. — and  consists  essentially  of  a  narrow 
Nile  valley  bordered  by  deserts,  intersected  by  numerous  occasional  watercourses — wadys  or  kJwrs. 

The  inhabitants  of  Nubia,  and  especially  ^those  between  the  Nile  and  the  Red  Sea,  the 
Ababdeh,  etc.,  are  a  very  fine  type  of  men,  belonging  mostly  to  the  Hamitic  division  of  the 
Caucasian  or  Mediterranean  race,  but  containing  an  admixture  of  Arabic  and  Negro  elements. 
Tliey  are  powerful,  industrious,  and  of  considerable  intellectual  ability;  in  their  mode  of  life 
they  are  chiefly  nomads.  Their  villages  consist  of  conical  straw  huts — tokitis — or  quadrangular 
dwellings  built  of  branches  of  trees  and  covered  with  leaves.  The\'  rear  fat-tailed  sheep,  hump- 
backed cattle,  and,  above  all,  camels,  and  grow  durrah  and  tef.  Dates  and  milk  form  the  other 
chief  articles  of  food.  The  principal  towns  are  Berber,  New  Dongola  or  El  Ordeh,  and  Korosko 
on  the  Nile,  and  Suakin,  the  terminus  of  a  large  caravan  trade  and  the  scene  of  one  of  the  last 
fierce  conflicts  between  the  English  army  and  the  forces  of  the  Mahdi,  on  the  Red  Sea. 

Egyptian  Soudan  is  the  name  now  commonly  given  to  the  Egyptian  territory'  immediately 
to  the  south  of  Nubia — Sennar,  bounded  on  the  west  by  the  White  Nile  and  on  the  east  by  Abys- 
sinia, and  Kordofan  and  Darfur,  west  of  the  Nile.  When  General  Gordon  was  Governor-General 
of  the  Soudan  in  1873-78,  a  chain  of  Egyptian  garrisons,  of  which  Gondokoro  was  the  principal, 
was  established  as  far  south  as  the  great  lakes.  Now  all  this  territory,  as  far  north  as  Suakin, 
is  under  the  power  of  El  Mahdi,  the  mysterious  False  Prophet  of  the  Soudan,  and  the  power  of 
England  was  unable  to  rescue  the  brave  General  Gordon,  shut  up  in  Khartoum.  This  town, 
the  capital  of  the  Soudan,  situated  near  the  junction  of  the  White  and  Blue  Niles,  is  estimated 
to  contain  a  population  of  between  fifty  and  sixty  thousand,  and  has  long  been  the  commercial 
centre  of  the  Soudan  trade.  An  important  branch  of  this  commerce  has  always  been  the  slave 
trade,  which  even  the  authority  of  General  Gordon,  backed  by  the  most  stringent  orders  from 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


8- 


the  Khedive  Ismail  Pacha,  was  unable  to  suppress.  Gordon,  as  is  well  known,  succeeded  Sir 
Samuel  Baker  in  his  efforts  to  abolish  this  traffic,  which  for  many  years  has  been  carried  on  by 
armed  and  organized  bands  of  Arabs,  mostly  subjects  of  the  Khedive.  Baker's  expedition  up 
the  Nile  was  organized  in  1869.  After  innumerable  delays,  occasioned  mostly  by  the  secret 
hostility  of  the  officials,  the  start  was  made  from  Khartoum  on  February  8,  1870.  Eight  days 
afterwards,  the  junction  of  the  Sobat  with  the  White  Nile  was  reached,  six  hundred  and  eighty- 
four  miles,  by  Baker's  dead  reckoning,  from  Khartoum.  The  expedition  now  entered  upon 
"the  region  of  immense  flats  and  boundless  marshes,  through  which  the  White  Nile  winds  in  a 


labyrinth-like  course  for  about  seven  hundred  and  fift}-  miles  to  Gondokoro. " 
they  arrived  at  the  junction  of  the  Bahr  Giraffe,  and  turned  into  that  river, 
having  become  completely  obstructed  by  masses  of 
vegetation  that  had  formed  a  solid  dam.  And  ou 
February  25th,  the  same  obstacle  was  encountered 
on  the  new  route,  an  impenetrable  grassy  marsh, 
that  was  also  met  in  this  region  by  Schweinfurth  in 
1872,  and  that  constitutes  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able characteristics  of  the  country.  Baker  ordered 
fifty  swords  to  be  sharpened,  and  set  his  men  to 
cutting  a  canal  through  this  obstacle.  Under  date 
of  Februar}-  28th,  he  records  in  his  diary:  "The 
canal  progresses,  the  men  having  worked  well.  It  is 
a  curious  collection  of  trash  that  seriously  impedes 
navigation.  The  grass  resembles  sugar-canes;  this 
grows  from  twenty  to  thirty  feet  in  length,  and 
throws  out  roots  at  every  joint ;  thus,  when  matted 
together,  its  roots  still  increase,  and  render  the  mass 
a  complete  tangle.  During  the  wet  season  the  rush 
of  water  tears  off  large  rafts  of  this  floating  water- 
grass,  which  accumulates  in  any  favorable  locality. 
The  difficulty  of  clearing  a  passage  is  extreme. 
After  cutting  out  a  large  mass  with  swords,  a  rope 
is  made  fast  and  the  raft  is  towed  out  by  hauling, 
with  thirty  or  forty  men,  until  it  is  detached  and 
floated  down  the  stream."  Long  lines  of  men 
were  attached  by  ropes  to  the  small  steamers  of 
the  expedition,  and  they  were  hauled  by  main  force 
through  the  narrow  channels  which  the  exertions 
of  the  swordsmen  had  partially  cleared. 


SOUTH  and  east  of  the  plains  of  Nubia  and 
Kordofan  rise  the  highlands  of  Abyssinia,  the 
Habesh  of  the  Arabs.  From  the  Red  Sea,  on  the 
north-east,  the  land  rises  in  a  succession  of  terraces 
towards  the  south-west.  Between  the  highlands  and 
the  Red  Sea  lies  a  flat  tract,  called  Adal,  narrow  at 
the  north  and  widening  towards  the  south.     The 


The  next  day 

the  White  Nile 


Water-Carrier,  Monkoullo. 


country  of  Abyssinia  consists  of  high  table-lands,  intersected  by  deep  ravines  formed  by  the  rivers, 
and  steep  sandstone  terraces.  Numerous  mountain  chains,  mostly  of  volcanic  origin,  rise  above 
the  table-lands;  the  highest  are  the  mountains  of  Samen,  or  Samien,  rising  to  about  fifteen  thou- 
sand feet  above  the  sea-level.  Some  of  the  plains  have  an  elevation  of  from  seven  thousand  to 
ten  thousand  feet.  Abvssinia  gives  birth  to  numerous  rivers  ;  the  largest  of  which  are  the  Abai, 
or  Blue  Nile,  and  the  Takkazie,  "the  Terrible,"  an  affluent  of  the  Nile.  In  the  south  is  the 
Hawash— from  which  the  country  takes  its  name— which  flows  eastward  into  the  salt  lake  of 
Assal  in  Adal.     The  largest  lake  is  that  of  Tzana,  or  Dembea,  through  which  the  Blue  Nile 


84  AFRICA  ILLUSTRATED. 

flows.  The  climate  in  the  elevated  tracts  of  Abyssinia  is  temperate  and  salubrious ;  in  the  low 
districts  along  the  coast,  and  in  the  north  and  north-west,  the  heat  is  excessive  and  the  climate 
noxious.  (_)n  the  whole,  the  country  is  one  of  great  fertilit>-;  but,  like  the  climate,  the  produc- 
tions of  the  soil  vary  greatly  with  the  different  degrees  of  elevation.  Wheat,  barley  and  maize  are 
cultivated,  also  the  grain  called  tcff,  tocusso,  various  leguminous  plants,  cotton,  coffee,  sugar-cane, 
tobacco,  etc.  The  coffee-plant  grows  wild.  Among  the  carniverous  animals,  the  lion,  leopard, 
hyena,  wolf  and  jackal  are  found.     There  are  also  elephants,  buffaloes,  rhinoceroses,  zebras,  etc. 

The  people  of  Abyssinia  belong  mostly  to  the  Shemitic  race,  and  resemble  the  Arabs  both  in 
physical  characteristic  and  structure  of  language.  The  ethnology  of  the  country  is  variously 
given  by  different  authorities.  According  to  Riippell,  there  are  three  principal  races.  The 
aboriginal  Abyssinians,  inhabiting  the  greater  part  of  Amhara,  and  numerous  also  in  Tigre,  are 
of  middle  size,  with  oval  faces,  lips  not  thicker  than  those  of  Europeans,  pointed  noses  and 
straight  or  slightly  curled  hair.  In  this  race  he  includes  the  Falashes,  or  Jews,  the  Gamant 
and  the  Angows.  A  second  race,  abounding  most  in  the  north  of  Tigre,  have  thick  lips,  noses 
blunt  and  somewhat  curved,  and  thick  hair,  verging  on  woolliness.  The  third  are  the  Gallas, 
inhabiting  the  south  of  Shoa  and  the  regions  west  of  Lake  Dembea  and  the  Abai ;  a  large- 
bodied  race,  round-faced,  short-nosed,  with  a  depression  between  the  nose  and  brow,  deep-set, 
lively  eyes  and  thickish  lips.  The  color  of  these  races  is  brown  of  various  shades.  The  only 
negroes  in  Abyssinia  are  slaves  from  the  country  of  the  Shangallas,  to  the  west. 

The  religion  of  Abyssinia  is  a  sort  of  degraded  Christianity,  mixed  with  many  Jewish 
observ'ances.  The  inhabitants  acknowledge  a  bishop,  or  abuna,  selected  and  consecrated  by  the 
Coptic  patriarch  of  Alexandria,  make  use  of  a  system  of  law  based  on  the  code  of  Justinian,  and 
have  otherwise  preserved  some  of  the  civilization  of  ancient  Rome. 

The  Abyssinian  Empire  was  at  the  height  of  its  power  in  the  sixth  century,  when  it  extended 
to  the  shores  of  the  Red  Sea,  and  even  included  a  part  of  southern  Arabia.  The  Mohammedan 
conquests  drove  back  the  frontier  to  the  limits  of  the  table-land  ;  and  since  the  seventh  century 
the  inhabitants  have  been  engaged  in  a  ceaseless  warfare  with  negro  tribes  and  with  the  gieat 
Mohammedan  powers.  They  have  been  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  hostile  races.  The  tradition  of 
the  great  power  of  the  negus,  or  emperor,  of  Abyssinia  lingered  in  Europe  throughout  the  middle 
ages ;  and,  although  separated  from  the  West,  the  Abyssinians  continued  to  consider  themselves 
as  one  of  the  Christian  and  civilized  communities.  In  the  fifteenth  century,  when  on  the  point 
of  yielding  to  the  invaders,  they  appealed  to  the  Portuguese  for  assistance,  and  it  was  granted, 
on  condition  that  they  should  abandon  the  rites  of  the  Coptic  Church  and  yield  unqualified 
submission  to  the  Pope.  The  promise  was  given,  and  the  invaders  were  driven  back.  The 
royal  family  received  the  Roman  Catholic  priests,  and  professed  the  tenets  of  the  Latin  Church. 
They  could  not,  however,  induce  the  native  clergy  and  the  people  to  follow  them ;  and  their 
adoption  of  a  foreign  creed  was  the  first  step  towards  the  weakening  of  the  rojal  power,  which 
had  been  absolute  for  ages  and  which  rested  on  a  firm  basis  of  tradition  and  custom— particu- 
larly strong  among  a  people  in  the  stage  of  progress  attained  by  the  Abyssinians.  The  royal 
family,  still  represented,  are  of  great  antiquity,  and  are  devoutly  believed  by  their  subjects  to 
have  sprung  from  Menelek,  a  son  of  Solomon  and  the  queen  of  Slieba.  The  Abyssinian  Church 
certainly  dates  from  the  fourth  century,  when  the  first  bishop,  or  abuna,  settled  at  Axum. 

The  great  natural  features  of  the  region  caused  it  to  be  divided  permanently  into  three 
important  parts,  i.  The  kingdom  of  Tigre,  extending  between  the  river  Takkazie  and  the 
mountains  of  Samen  on  one  side,  and  the  district  of  Samhara  on  the  other.  This  in  the  northern 
promontory  of  the  table-land,  where  the  Geez,  a  Semitic  dialect,  is  spoken,  and  through  which 
passes  the  chief  route  to  the  Red  Sea.  The  principal  towns  are  Antola  and  Adowa.  2.  The 
kingdom  of  Gondar  or  Amhara,  extending  on  the  west  of  the  Takkazie  and  the  Samen  moun- 
tanis.  Here  the  language  is  the  non-Semitic  Amharic,  and  the  capital,  Gondar,  is  situated  on  the 
north-east  of  the  plain  of  Dembea,  or  Gondar,  at  an  elevation  of  nearly  seven  thousand  five  hundred 
feet.  3.  The  kingdom  of  Shoa,  including  Efat,  lying  south  of  Amhara,  but  which  is  separated 
from  the  rest  of  the  country  by  intruding  tribes  of  Gallas,  an  alien  race.  Here  the  language  is 
also  Amharic.  This  seems  to  be  the  most  powerful  and  best  organized  State  now  existing  in 
Abyssinia.  The  capital,  Ankobar,  at  an  elevation  of  eight  thousand  two  hundred  feet,  contains 
from  eight  to  ten  thousand  inhabitants,  and  enjoys  a  delightful  climate.     The  Gallas,  a  savage 


86  AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 

but  enterprising  race,  effected  a  settlement  in  the  south  of  Abyssinia  in  the  sixteenth  century. 
They  inhabit  the  whole  of  the  eastern  part  of  tropical  Africa.  Several  of  their  tribes  have 
been  modified  in  character  and  customs  by  conversion  to  Mohammedanism,  and  have  founded 
kingdunis— such  as  Enarea,  one  of  the  highest  mountain  countries  of  Africa,  and  rich  in  produce  ; 
Kusha,  on  the  river  Goshob,  v/here  the  slave  trade  was  actively  carried  on  by  the  Portuguese, 
and  several  smaller  independent  states,  of  which  little  is  known.  Among  the  minor  provinces 
of  Abjssinia  are  Lasta  and  Waag,  Semen,  Godjam  and  Kuara. 

The  full-page  illustration  gives  an  accurate  view  of  the  royal  palace  at  Gondar,  already 
falling  into  ruin  in  the  time  of  the  terrible  king  Theodore,  and  which  that  monarch,  who  had 
no  affection  for  the  capital,  took  no  measures  to  remedy.  The  principal  damage  done  to  this 
palace,  the  Negus-Ghimp.,  however,  is  due  to  the  mother  of  Ras  Ali,  the  famous  Waizero  Menin, 
who,  furious  at  the  hatred  of  her  subjects,  threw  down  whole  portions  of  the  building,  saying,  as 
it  is  reported,  "Since  we  cannot  leave  any  monument  of  our  own  power,  it  is  unnecessary  to 
leave  that  of  others."  This  enterprising  woman  is  one  of  the  most  striking  figures  in  Abyssinian 
history.  She  espoused  one  of  the  last  of  the  powerless  reigning  kings,  in  order  to  become 
possessed  of  a  title,  but  almost  immediately  took  occasion  to  secure  a  divorce  and  retained,  as 
her  dowry,  the  city  and  province  of  Gondar,  which  she  governed  herself,  commanding  her  own 
armies.  She  took  for  captain  of  her  guards  a  young  soldier  of  fortune,  named  Kassai,  but  soon 
contrived  to  quarrel  with  him  over  a  cow,  or  some  such  trifle.  The  dispute  was  decided  in  pitched 
battle,  and  Kassai  was  ungallant  enough  to  wound  the  queen  in  the  thigh  with  his  lance,  to  take 
her  prisoner,  and  not  to  release  her  mitil  she  had  purchased  her  ransom  with  the  city  of  Gondar. 
This  ofllicer  afterwards  became  the  king  Theodore. 

In  the  last  century,  Gooska,  a  Galla  adventurer,  entered  Amhara,  the  central  province,  and 
securing  possession  of  the  puppet  emperor,  assumed  the  title  of  Ras,  and  fixed  his  family  in 
power  at  Debri  Tabor.  He  was  succeeded  by  his  son  and  his  grandson  Ras  Ali,  who  confirmed 
the  power  of  his  family  by  successful  military  enterprises  against  the  frontier  tribes,  and  by  the 
marriage  of  his  beautiful  and  clever  mother  to  the  nominal  emperor  Johannes.  Such  was  the 
success  of  Ras  .\li  that  his  supremacy  was  acknowledged  by  all  the  great  chiefs  except  Dejaj  Berro 
of  Godjam,  and  that  anarchy  seemed  about  to  cease  for  a  time  in  Abyssinia.  It  was  then  for 
the  first  time  that  relations  were  opened  between  the  central  province  and  England.  So  early 
as  1810,  while  Great  Britain  was  engaged  in  her  struggle  with  Napoleon,  Mr.  Salt  was  sent  as 
her  envoy  to  Abyssinia ;  but  he  went  no  farther  than  Tigre,  the  Ras  of  which  was  treated  as  an 
independent  sovereign.  When  the  power  of  the  French  was  destroyed  in  the  eastern  seas  by  the 
capture  of  the  "Mauritius"  and  the  destruction  of  the  French  settlements  in  Madagascar,  the 
English  government  ceased  to  take  any  interest  in  Abyssinia,  and  Mr.  Salt  was  recalled. 
Negotiations  were  afterwards  set  on  foot,  however,  chiefly  through  the  influence  of  John  Bell, 
an  officer  of  the  Indian  navy,  who  had  married  an  Abyssinian,  the  daughter  of  a  chief,  and 
settled  in  the  country,  and  his  friend  Walter  Plowden,  a  Calcutta  merchant.  On  the  2d  of 
November,  1849,  ^  treaty  was  entered  into  between  Ras  Ali  and  Mr.  Plowden,  and  there  seemed 
every  prospect  of  a  close  connection  being  established  with  England,  when  all  that  had  been  done 
was  rendered  useless  by  the  rise  of  Theodore  and  the  entire  destruction  of  the  power  of  Ras  Ali. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  century,  Kuara,  a  district  of  Amhara,  south-west  of  Lake  Tzana, 
was  ruled  by  Dejaj  Cemfu.  The  brother  of  this  frontier  chief  died  young,  leaving  a  widow  in 
great  poverty  and  a  son  born  in  1820,  named  Kassai,  afterwards  Theodore.  She  was  compelled 
to  seek  refuge  with  her  boy  in  Gondar.  There  she  lived  in  great  obscurity,  earning  her  bread 
by  selling  kosso,  a  specific  against  tapeworm.  What  her  rank  was  is  doubtful ;  and  it  is  not 
known  how  far  her  son  was  justified  in  claiming  for  her  descent  from  the  family  of  the  titular 
kings.  Kassai  was  admitted  to  a  monaster)-,  where  he  spent  many  }ears ;  but  his  asylum  was 
afterwards  attacked  by  an  insurgent  chief,  and  he  escaped  with  difficult)-  to  Kuara.  He  joined 
the  army  of  his  uncle,  then  fighting  against  the  Turks;  and  he  distinguished  himself  so  much 
by  courage,  intelligence,  activit)-  and  tact,  that  he  obtained  a  wonderful  influence  over  his  fellow 
soldiers.  Dejaj  Cemfu  died  suddenly,  and  his  three  sons  quarreled.  To  settle  their  dispute, 
Birru  Goshu,  chief  of  Godjam,  was  called  in.  He  entered  Kuara,  and  conquered  the  best  part 
of  it.  Kassai,  however,  resisted  him,  and  at  the  head  of  a  numerous  band  of  soldiers  took  refuge 
in  the  mountains.     Here  he  became  embroiled  with  Waizero  Menin,  the  mother  of  Ras  Ali ; 


88  AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 

made  peace  with  her,  was  acknowledged  as  governr^r  of  Kuara,  and  received  a  daughter  of  Ras 
AH  in  marriage.  Hostilities  broke  out  again,  Wai^ero  Meniu  was  captured  by  Kassai,  and  her 
sou  determined  to  crush  the  adventurer,  once  for  all.  In  this,  however,  he  was  completely 
unsuccessful,  and  Kassai  became  possessed  of  the  whole  of  Amhara.  He  also  secured  possession 
of  the  titular  emperor,  defeated  Dejaj  Oubie  of  Tigre  and  Semen,  captured  him  as  well  as  the 
Abuna  Salama,  and  obtained  the  consent  of  the  latter  to  acknowledge  his  descent  from  Solomon 
and  the  queen  of  Slieba,  and  to  crown  him  emperor.  The  conditions  exacted  were,  that  Kassai 
should  support  the  Coptic  Church,  and  banish  the  Roman  Catholics.  A  few  da\s  after  the  battle 
Kiissai  was  accordingly  crowned  by  the  abuna  as  Theodore  of  Abyssinia.  It  was  not  without 
reason  that  this  name  was  chosen.  According  to  an  old  tradition,  a  King  Theodore  was  to  reign 
in  Abyssinia,  conquer  the  kingdom  of  Solomon  and  restore  the  ancient  glory  of  Ethiopia. 
Kassai,  believed,  or  affected  to  believe,  himself  the  man  thus  announced.  He  proclaimed 
himself  a  descendant  of  Solomon.  But  it  does  not  appear  that  he  ventured  to  ignore  the  titular 
king;  on  the  contrary,  after  his  coronation,  he  was  represented  as  standing  in  the  presence  of 
the  latter,  naked  to  the  waist,  as  is  the  custom  of  an  Abyssinian  servant  in  presence  of  his 
master.  On  the  annexation  of  Tigre,  Theodore  resolved  to  attack  Shoa,  the  third  great  province 
of  the  old  empire.  The  people  frightened  at  the  sudden  death  of  their  king,  submitted  without 
a  struggle,  and  Theodore  resolved  to  extend  his  conquests  to  the  Red  Sea,  and  to  enter  on  a 
crusade  against  the  Turks  for  the  recovery  of  the  seaboard.  He  had  treated  up  to  this  time  the 
conquered  provinces  with  great  leniency,  generally  leaving  one  of  the  ruling  family  in  power, 
and  to  Mr.  Bell  and  Mr  Plowden  he  extended  the  same  protection  they  had  had  from  Ras  AH. 
He  heartily  adopted  many  of  their  schemes,  and  was  anxious  to  open  up  intercourse  with 
England.  It  was  difficult,  however,  to  negotiate  with  him.  He  believed  himself  to  possess  the 
same  claim  to  respect  as  a  European  monarch,  and  was  kept  in  perpetual  torment  by  imaginary 
slights,  and  more  especially  by  the  respect  shown  to  the  Turks,  whom  he  regarded  as  barbarians. 
His  vanity  and  touchiness  were  aggravated  by  reverses.  The  conquest  of  Shoa  had  not  long 
been  completed  when  the  Dejaj  of  Godjam  and  the  prince  of  Tigre  rebelled,  the  latter  being 
supported  by  the  French.  At  the  time  when  the  Roman  Catholic  missionaries  were  banished 
by  Theodore,  Dr.  Krapf  and  the  Rev.  Martin  Flad  entered  Central  Abyssinia  to  found  a 
Protestant  mission  under  the  auspices  of  Bishop  Gobat  of  Jerusalem.  They  proposed  to  intro- 
duce handicraftsmen,  not  priests,  who  were  to  follow  their  usual  avocations,  and,  in  addition, 
merely  to  read  the  Scriptures,  and  distribute  copies  in  the  native  languages.  The  scheme  met 
with  Theodore's  approval.  In  April,  1856,  the  first  members  of  the  mission  arrived,  and  others 
followed. 

Encouraged  by  their  success,  the  Rev.  H.  A.  Stern  afterwards  went  to  Abyssinia  as  agent 
of  the  Society  for  promoting  Christianity  among  the  native  Jews,  or  Falashas,  and  obtained  the 
consent  of  the  king  and  abuna  to  found  another  mission.  He  went  back  to  Europe,  but  returned 
early  in  1863,  accompanied  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rosenthal.  A  third,  known  as  the  Scotch  mission, 
was  founded,  and  all  were  well  received.  The  first  quarrels  of  Theodore  were  with  the  diplo- 
matists. He  was  indignant  at  the  proposal  made  by  the  English  Foreign  Office  to  exercise 
jurisdiction  over  criminals  in  Abyssinia  without  granting  him  reciprocal  rights.  In  November, 
1855,  he  was  still  further  irritated  by  the  refusal  of  the  English  to  receive  any  embassy  from 
him  without  an  assurance  that  he  was  to  renounce  all  idea  of  reconquering  from  Egypt  the 
Abyssinian  territory  of  which  it  had  taken  possession.  If  Mr.  Plowden  had  lived,  all  these 
difficulties  might  have  been  tided  over,  but  as  he  was  returning  to  Massowah  from  Gondar,  he 
and  a  company  of  fellow-travellers  were  attacked  by  Garod,  a  rebel  chief,  Mr.  Plowden  was 
wounded,  and  died  of  the  injur>';  the  king  and  Mr.  Bell  marched  against  Garod,  and  killed  him ; 
Garod's  brother  then  killed  Mr.  Bell,  and  a  horrible  slaughter  of  the  insurgents  ensued.  After 
the  death  of  Mr.  Plowden,  Captain  C.  D.  Cameron  was  appointed  consul.  Theodore  was  not 
consulted,  and  the  new  consul  was  coldly  received  in  October,  1862.  The  Egyptians  were  at 
the  time  advancing  within  the  northern  frontiers  of  Tigre,  and  Abyssinian  Christians  had  been 
subjected  to  indignities  at  Jerusalem.  Theodore  resolved  to  appeal  to  the  English  and  French 
governments,  and  wrote  letters  claiming  their  protection.  That  to  the  Queen  was  forwarded 
to  Aden,  but,  unfortunately,  did  not  reach  England  until  February,  1863,  when  it  was  thrust 
into  a  pigeon-hole  and  ignored  or  forgotten.     Consul  Cameron  further  aggravated  tlie  king  by  a 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


89 


1 
1 

fi 

>:(| 

'J    Ifi 

Women  grinding  Grain  for  Prisoners. 


visit  to  Sennar,  and  on  his  return  was  detained  as  a  prisoner  at  Gondar,  till  an  answer  should  be 
received  to  the  letter.  The  French  reply,  read  to  the  king  by  M.  Lejean,  was  torn  and  trampled 
upon,  and  the  agent,  imprisoned  for  a  few  days,  was  ordered  ofiFto  Massowah.  In  October,  1863, 
Consul  Cameron  sent  letters  to  Massowah;  his  messengers  were  stopped,  deprived  of  their 
despatches  and  beaten.  On  the  same  day  Mr.  Stern  happened  to  pay  a  visit  of  ceremony  to  the 
king,  the  fatal  consequences  of  which  can  be  best  related  in  his  own  words : 

"A  page  of  the  negus  (the  emperor)  came  to  notify  me  that  the  repast  of  His  Majesty  was 
finished.  In  the  royal  tent  the  last  jar  of  hydromel  was  indeed  emptied,  the  last  morsel  of  raw 
meat  devoured ;  the  last  batch  of  drunkards  had  disappeared  when  the  barriers,  which  had 
surrounded  the  tent,  were  removed  and  Theodore  appeared  in  the  open  air,  surrounded  by  some 
five  or  six  officers  and  several  pages,  and  strutting  pompously.  My  companions  immediately 
prostrated  themselves  in  the  dust,  and,  without  imitating  their  servile  attitude,  I  made  an  humble 
and  respectful  salute. 

"  'Approach!'  cried  to  me  several  of  the  king's  attendants.    I  obeyed  and  advanced  several  steps. 

"  'Still  nearer!'  repeated  the  stentorian  voices.     I  made  another  movement  in  advance. 

"  'What  do  you  want?'  harshly  demanded  the  negus,  who  was  evidently  heated  and  excited 
by  drink. 

"  'I  saw  the  tent  of  Your  Majesty,'  I  replied,  'and  I  have  come  to  offer  my  humble  salutations 
and  my  respects  to  Your  Majesty.' 

"  'Where  are  you  going?' 

"  'I  have  the  intention,  if  Your  Majesty  will  authorize  me,  to  return  to  Massowah.' 

"  'And  why  have  you  come  to  Ab>'ssinia?' 

"  'The  wish  to  spread  the  Word  of  God  among  the  subjects  of  Your  Majesty  suggested  to  mr 
this  enterprise,'  I  replied. 

' '  '  Can  you  make  cannon  ?' 

'"No,  Sire.' 

'"You  lie!' 

"This  was  his  laconic  reply,  and  then  turning  an  angr}'  look  towards  N6gusee,  one  of  my 
companions  and  one  of  the  servants  of  the  consul  Cameron,  he  demanded  of  him,  in  an 
imperious  tone,  the  name  of  his  country. 

"  'I  am  of  Tigre,'  replied  the  poor  man,  trembling. 

"  'And  you  are  the  servant  or  interpreter  of  this  white  man?' 

"  'No,  Sire;  I  am  in  the  service  of  the  consul  Cameron,  and  I  am  only  going  as  far  as  Adowa 
to  see  my  family.' 

"  'Vile  carcass!  Despicable  dog!  Rotten  ass!  do  you  dare  to  dispute  with  your  king?   Throw 


9° 


The  March  of  the  English  Akmy. 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED.  91 


Mombasa. 

him  to  the  earth,  this  miserable  ;  and,  by  my  death,  beat  him  till  there  is  no  longer  any  breath 
left  in  his  worthless  skin  !' 

"The  order  was  promptly  executed,  and  the  poor,  inoffensive  man,  without  a  struggle,  without 
a  cry,  without  a  moan,  was  thrown  to  the  ground  and,  amidst  the  clamor  of  the  savage  monarch, 
his  bodv,  so  full  of  life  and  health,  was  so  beaten  by  the  rods  of  the  executioners  that  it  became 
in  a  moment  a  shapeless  and  mutilated  corpse. 

"  'There  is  another  man  down  there,'  shouted  the  tyrant,  'kill  him  also!' 

"The  other  unfortunate,  who  was  at  a  considerable  distance,  was  immediately  dragged  to  the 
side  of  his  murdered  companion,  and,  without  having  uttered  a  word,  not  even  a  syllable,  that 
could  in  any  manner  have  irritated  the  sanguinar}-  tyrant,  put  to  the  same  cruel  death.  I  was 
horrified,  bewildered,  completely  stupefied.  In  my  trouble  I  probably  unconsciously  carried 
my  hand  or  my  finger  to  my  mouth— an  act  which  the  cruel  despot  construed  into  a  gesture  of 
defiance  and,  without  any  notice,  without  any  uttered  reproach,  he  rushed  upon  me  with  a  pistol 
in  his  hand.  For  an  instant  I  saw  the  weapon  glitter  in  the  rays  of  the  setting  sun,  but  then, 
as  if  arrested  in  his  bloody  design  by  an  invisible  power,  the  pistol  disappeared  in  the  case 
suspended  at  his  waist. 

"  '  Down  with  him!  blow  out  his  brains!  kill  him  !'  were  the  words  that  struck  fatally  upon  my 
ear.  In  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  I  was  stripped  of  my  clothes,  thrown  on  the  ground,  and  I 
lost  consciousness.  Overwhelmed,  senseless,  almost  lifeless,  the  blood  escaping  in  torrents  from 
my  wounds,  I  was  dragged  into  the  camp,  not  to  be  put  in  irons,  as  my  guards  had  been  com- 
manded, but  to  be  buried,  as  they  thought,  and  as  I  heard  them  say  with   their  own  mouths." 

Surviving  as  by  a  miracle  this  savage  outrage,  Mr.  Stern  while  still  feeble  and  bleeding  was 
put  in  irons  and  taken  to  the  amba,  or  fortress,  of  jMagdala,  where  he  was  thrust  into  the  common 
jail,  already  cr-owded  with  native  prisoners.  The  cause  of  the  king's  sudden  outbreak  against 
him  was  attributed  to  the  allusion  in  Mr.  Stern's  book,  "Wanderings  among  the  Falaschas  in 
Abyssinia,"  to  the  early  poverty  and  obscurity  of  Theodore's  mother  and  to  her  trade  in  kosso — 
a  disparagement  of  his  claim  to  descent  from  Solomon— which  the  tyrant  fiercely  resented.  Mr. 
Stern  and  Mr.  Rosenthal,  on  the  20th  of  November,  were  publicly  tried  with  all  the  formalities 
of  Abyssinian  law,  on  a  charge  of  having  committed  the  crimen  Iccscz  majesiaiis — Mr.  Rosenthal's 
offence  consisting  in  having  said  that  the  country  would  fare  better  under  the  Turks  than  under 
Theodore.  The  prisoners  were  condemned  to  death,  but  the  sentence  was  not  carried  out.  Two 
days  after  the  trial,  despatches  arrived  for  Captain  Cameron,  but  there  was  among  them  no  reply  to 
Theodore's  letter.  The  consul  was  injudicious  enough  to  ask  for  permission  to  leave,  and  in  reply 
was  arrested  and  thrown  into  the  prison  at  Gondar  with  the  missionaries,  where  they  remained 


92  AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 

until  the  following  summer,  when  they  were  removed  to  Magdala.  The  English  government 
did  not  seem  to  interest  itself  about  the  consul  ;  but  the  case  of  the  missionaries  was  warmly 
taken  up  by  Lord  Shaftesbury  and  the  religious  public.  The  subject  was  brought  before  Parlia- 
ment, and  the  government  was  compelled  to  search  for  the  original  of  Theodore's  letter.  It 
was  finally  found  in  the  pigeon-hole  in  which  it  had  been  put,  endorsed  by  Lord  John  Russell. 
It  had  been  written  in  1862  ;  it  was  answered  in  June,  1864.  The  reply  was  intrusted  to  Mr. 
Hormuzd  Rassam,  a  native  of  Mosul,  who  had  been  employed  in  the  diplomatic  service  at  Aden. 
But  this  choice  was  unfortunate,  the  envoy  being,  in  the  eyes  of  Theodore,  a  mere  Turk,  and 
therefore  a  spy  and  an  enemy.  He  was  not  received  till  January,  1866,  and  then — not  being 
provided  with  a  gift  equal  in  value  to  that  of  the  king's — he  was  arrested  and  sent  to  prison 
with  the  other  captives.  To  this  breach  of  the  law  of  nations,  Theodore  added  a  long  list  of 
crimes  that  seemed  like  those  of  a  mere  madman  ; — he  tortured,  burned  alive  and  starved  his 
unoffending  subjects.  "Out  of  three  million  inhabitants,"  said  Dr.  Blanc,  in  June,  1867,  "he  has 
destroyed  more  than  a  third  by  war,  famine  and  murder."  The  European  prisoners,  neglected, 
filthy,  half  starved  on  the  scanty  and  coarse  food  furnished  them,  lived  in  hourly  apprehension 
of  the  death  that  was  awarded  to  hundreds  of  the  native  captives.  After  some  unsuccessful 
attempts  to  negotiate  with  Theodore  through  Mr.  Flad,  in  the  early  part  of  1867,  Lord  Stanley, 
in  April,  ordered  him  within  three  months  to  deliver  up  the  prisoners.  He  took  no  notice  of 
the  communication,  and  accordingly,  an  expedition  was  fitted  out  at  Bombay  for  the  invasion  of 
the  table-land.  The  force  consisted  of  ten  thousand  soldiers.  Early  in  November,  the  advanced 
brigade  landed  at  Gulla,  on  the  Red  Sea.  From  this  point  the  expedition  advanced  successfully, 
in  spite  of  many  difficulties,  through  the  defiles,  and  in  the  beginning  of  April,  186S,  came  in 
sight  of  Magdala,  the  king's  last  stronghold.  On  the  loth  he  attacked  the  English  anny,  and 
sustained  .so  decisive  a  defeat  that  he  forthwith  made  submission  to  the  extent  of  surrendering 
all  the  European  captives ;  but  his  conciliator}'  present  of  a  thousand  cows  was  not  accepted  by 
Sir  Robert  Napier,  the  English  general,  and  Theodore  was  unwilling  to  surrender  himself  on 
the  promise  of  honorable  treatment.  The  few  chiefs  that  remained  faithful  to  him  counselled 
submission  in  vain.  Magdala  was  stormed  on  the  13th,  without  any  loss  of  life  on  the  British 
side,  and  the  Abyssinian  king,  who  had  in  vain  attempted  to  escape,  set  the  muzzle  of  a  pistol  to 
his  ear,  as  he  saw  the  Redcoats  topping  the  wall  of  his  last  defense,  and  blew  out  his  own  brains. 


IN  Africa,  as  in  other  parts  of  the  world,  language  appears  to  offer  the  best  guide  for  marking 
out  the  divisions  of  races,  but  ethnographers  seem  to  be  now  agreed  in  referring  the  peoples 
having  Semitic  and  Hamitic — as  well  as  Arj-an  —  languages  to  one  race,  the  Caucasian,  or 
Mediterranean.  To  this  race  belong,  in  Africa,  three  Semitic  peoples — Abyssinians,  Arabs  and 
Jews.  The  first  settled  in  the  land  which  gives  them  their  name;  the  second  spread  as  conquerors 
over  the  whole  of  northern  Africa;  the  third  established  at  various  points  all  along  the  north 
coast.  Politically,  the  Gallas  do  not  fonn  a  single  nation.  The  wandering  Gallas  are  mainly 
engaged  in  hunting  and  the  slave  trade. 

Their  name  has  been  applied  to  them  by  the  Abyssinians — the  word  "Galla"  meaning 
"invader;"  by  theuLselves  they  are  called  Orma.  Their  houses  are  hardly  so  good  as  those  of 
the  Abyssinians,  being  merely  conical  thatched  huts.  The  women  are  better-looking  than  the 
men,  and  are  clothed  in  cotton  garments  and  a  leathern  petticoat  with  sandals  of  ox-hide;  their 
whole  dress  being  smeared  and  saturated  with  the  castor-oil  with  which  they  dress  their  frizzly 
locks.  Their  hair  they  wear  in  tresses,  which  fall  over  their  shoulders.  Their  religion  is  a 
rude  paganism,  for  the  most  part.  They  are  said  to  have  no  priests — however,  in  respect  to  this 
statement,  travellers  differ — but  each  head  of  a  house  makes  sacrifices,  of  his  own  free  will,  of 
cows  or  sheep  to  Wak,  their  chief  divinity.  "Occasionally — not  regularly — the  Gallas  pray  to 
Wak,  and  expect  from  him  the  accomplishment  of  their  benedictions  and  anathemas.  They 
have  no  distinct  idea  of  what  Wak  is,  but  to  his  priests  he  reveals  himself  in  dreams.  Their 
oaths  are  characteristic :  they  sit  down  upon  a  pit  covered  with  hide,  and  imprecate  upon  them- 
selves that,  if  they  do  not  perform  their  vows,  they  may  fall  into  such  a  pit.  They  have  funeral 
ceremonies,  and  believe  in  a  future  state,  which  is  one  of  moral  retribution." 

From  all  quarters  the  pagan  Galla  tribes  perform  pilgrimages  to  a  tree  called  tvodanabe,  on 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


93 


the  banks  of  the  Hawsah  River,  south  of  Shoa,  to  offer  prayers  to  it  for  long  life,  riches,  health, 
and  every  other  mundane  blessing.     Women  are  not,  however,  allowed  to  approach  it. 

The  Latookas,  whom  Sir  Samuel  Baker  describes  as  the  finest  savages  he  had  ever  seen — their 
average  height  being  five  feet  eleven  and  a  half  inches,  and  splendidly  proportioned — are  believed 
to  be  of  Galla  descent.  Their  toilet  is  a  very  simple  affair ;  that  of  the  men  consisting,  with  the 
exception  of  the  head  covering,  of  nakedness.  They  are  nude  from  the  soles  of  the  feet  upwards. 
"  It  is  curious  to  observe  among  these  wild  savages  the  consummate  vanity  displayed  in  their 
head-dresses.  Every  tribe  has  a  distinct  and  unchanging  fashion  for  dressing  the  hair ;  and  so 
elaborate  is  the  coiffure  that  hair-dressing  is  reduced  to  a  science.  European  ladies  would  be 
startled  at  the  fact  that  to  perfect  the  coiffure  of  a  L,atooka  man  requires  a  period  of  from  eight 
to  ten  years !     However  tedious  the  operation,  the  result  is  extraordinary." 

Though  the  men  are  exceedingly  handsome,  the  Latooka  women  are,  on  the  contrary,  very 
plain-looking,  being  "immense  creatures" — few  under  five  feet  seven  in  height,  and  with 
' '  prodigious  limbs. ' '  They  are  very  strong,  and  carry  with  comparative  ease  ten-gallon  water- 
jars  from  the  stream,  a  mile  distant  from  the  town.  Their  chief  ornament  consists  of  a  very 
long  tail,  made  of  fine  twine,  rubbed  with  red  ochre  and  grease,  and  shaped  precisely  like  that 
of  a  horse.  A  large  flap  of  tanned  leather  in  front  completes  their  dress.  Polygamy,  of  course, 
prevails  among  the  Latookas,  and,  if  all  tales  are  true,  is  not  productive  of  universal  peace  of  mind. 

The  Danakil,  calling  themselves  Affar^  Ophir  and  Ghibcrti — the  latter  name  being  a  compli- 
mentary one,  in  allusion  to  their  adherence  to  Mohammedanism,  and  meaning  "strong  in  the 
faith" — are  a  wide-spread  race.  At  one  time  their  kingdom  comprised,  according  to  the  late 
Mr.  Macqueen,  an  enthusiastic  student  of  African  geography,  the  whole  Mohammedan  population 
of  East  Africa.  There  is  a  probability  that  they  are  a  branch  of  the  Amharic  race,  who 
embraced  the  faith  of  the  Prophet,  and  were,  accordingly,  both  owing  to  religious  and  political 
prejudices,  the  never-sleeping  enemies  of  the  Abyssinian  empire. 

Closely  allied  to  the  Gallas  are  also  the  Somauli,  who  inhabit  the  African  coast  from  the 
equator  northward  to  Cape  Guardafui  and  the  Straits  of  Babelmandeb.  In  habits  they  are  a 
pastoral  people  ;  but  when  there  are  seaports  in  their  vicinity,  they  follow  commercial  pursuits 
and  navigation.  Their  arms  are  light  bows,  and  arrows  contained  in  a  large  quiver  made  out  of 
a  gourd.  Each  arrow  is  almost  a  foot  in  length  and  armed  with  a  steel  point,  which  is  poisoned, 
and  easily  removed  from  the  shaft,  as  the  latter  is  simply  aflSxed  to  it  by  a  socket.  A  long- 
bladed  knife  completes  the  Somauli  warrior's  equipment.  Their  dress  is  a  waist-cloth  (or  fotaJi) 
and  a  robe  (or  sarree)  eleven  feet  in  length.  Their  country  was  traversed,  in  1885,  from  Berbera, 
on  the  south  coast  of  the  Gulf  of  Aden,  to  the  river  Webbe  by  an  English  exploring  party, 
without  exciting  the  hostility  of  the  natives. 

The  name  Zanzibar  or  Zanguebar,  is  applied  to  the  east  coast  from  4°  N.  to  12°  S.  latitude, 
but  the  territories  of  the  Arabic  Sultan  of  Zanzibar,  who  pays  tribute  to  the  Iman  of  Muscat, 
extend  from  2°  N.  to  Cape  Delgado.  The  inhabitants,  the  Suaheli,  now  contain  so  great  an 
admixture  of  Arab  blood  that  they  usually  call    themselves  Arabs.      In  religion  they  are  all 


Zanzibar,  from  the  Sea. 


94 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


zealous  Mohammedans,  and  they  are  an  energetic  trading  people — the  island  of  Zanzibar,  with 
the  town  of  the  same  name  on  the  west  side,  the  capital  of  the  sultanate,  being  the  chief  centre 
of  commerce  for  the  whole  of  Eastern  Africa.  The  territories  on  the  mainland  have  no  defined 
limit  towards  the  interior,  being  occupied  by  heathen  tribes,  over  whom  the  sultan's  authority 
is  hardly  even  nominal  beyond  the  seaboard.  The  soil  along  the  coast  is  fertile  in  rice,  millet, 
peas,  beans,  melons,  pumpkins,  the  sugar-cane,  cocoauut,  banana,  plantain,  etc.,  and  the  forests 
suppl>-  the  caoutchouc  tree  and  many  valuable  species  of  limber.  Cattle,  sheep  and  fowls  are 
plentiful,  and  tropical  wild  animals  abound.  Rice,  sugar,  molasses,  ivory,  gums,  gold  and 
cowries  are  exported.  The  heat  on  the  coast  is  excessive,  and  the  climate  very  unfavorable  to 
Europeans. 

Four  days  easy  sailing  north  of  the  island  of  Zanzibar  lies  the  small  one  of  Mombasa,  on 
which  is  situated  the  town  of  the  same  name.  This  islet,  situated  in  the  delta  formed  by  the 
rivers  Rabbai  and  Rib^,  is  only  a  few  hundred  yards  distant  from  the  mainland.  The  luxuriant 
tropical  vegetation,  which  covers  the  greater  part  of  it,  gives  it  the  appearance  of  a  pleasure  park; 
only  on  the  side  facing  the  ocean,  low  and  very  dense  thickets  offer  an  inhospitable  aspect.  The 
natives  give  it  the  name  APvi/a,  signifying  "war,"  but  the  derivation  is  unknown,  unless  the 


Ladha-Ramji,  Indian  Merchant  at  Zanzibar. 

souvenir  of  the  conflicts  attending  the  Portuguese  conquest  is  thus  perpetuated.  The  little  town 
faces  the  north  and  the  continent.  The  stone  houses  of  the  Arab  inhabitants  are  aligned  along 
the  seashore,  like  those  of  the  capital  at  Zanzibar,  but  they  conceal  behind  them  a  wilderness 
of  low  huts,  thatched  with  palm  leaves,  to  which  access  is  gained  by  a  labyrinth  of  footpaths. 
The  town  boasts  over  the  capital,  however,  the  possession  of  a  main  street  which  traverses  its 
entire  length,  parallel  to  the  sea,  and  gives  it  a  certain  air  of  grandeur,  while  it  permits  the  free 
access  of  light  and  air.  Some  of  the  few  mosques  are  ornamented  with  a  corridor  which  ser\'es 
as  a  portico,  and  a  low  minaret.  The  Portuguese  ruins  are  numerous  and  attest  the  importance 
of  the  effort  made  by  that  nation  to  retain  its  foothold  here,  and  the  Arabs— whose  conquest, 
more  enduring,  seems  in  its  turn  about  to  yield  to  the  inroads  of  the  European  powers— have 
occupied  many  of  these  abandoned  edifices,  and,  in  some  cases,  disfigured  them,  when  thev  bore 
emblems  of  the  Christian  religion.  The  harbor  of  the  town  is  formed  by  an  arm  of  the  sea, 
which  affords  a  safe  anchorage  to  vessels  of  all  sizes ;  on  the  side  next  the  continent  rises  a 
sloping  sandy  hill,  planted  in  straight  lines  with  cocoa  trees  which  shelter  a  number  of  necTo 
cabins.  ^ 

The  island  of  Zanzibar,  by  far  the  richest  and  most  important  part  of  the  sultan's  dominions, 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


95 


I-DIBRJIJO 


The  Slave-Market  at  Zanzibar. 


is  distant  from  twenty  to  thirty  miles  from  the  African  coast.  It  is  about  forty-eight  miles  in 
length  and  from  fifteen  to  thirty  in  breadth.  It  contains  an  area  of  about  four  hundred  thousand 
acres,  and  the  soil  is,  in  most  parts,  of  exceeding  fertility;  being  covered  with  woods  and  planta- 
tions, and  the  frequent  rains  causing  perpetual  verdure,  it  everywhere  presents  a  delightful 
appearance.  It  is  very  flat,  the  highest  point  not  being  more  than  three  hundred  feet,  composed 
entirely  of  coral,  and  abundantly  watered  by  rivulets,  which  flow  at  all  seasons  of  the  year.  The 
principal  products  are  cocoanuts,  cloves,  rice,  sugar-cane,  manioc,  millet,  and  fruits  in  the 
utmost  abundance,  especially  oranges  of  the  finest  quality.  The  island  is  intersected  by  paths 
and  green  lanes  in  every  direction,  affording  a  never-ending  variety  of  pleasant  walks  and  rides. 
The  country  houses  of  the  Arab  proprietors,  and  the  huts  of  their  slaves,  are  thickly  dotted  over 
the  surface,  surrounded  with  gardens  and  fields.  The  hedgerows  are  covered  with  flowering 
creepers,  and  pineapples  grow  amongst  them  in  wild  profusion.  In  many  parts  are  glades  of 
undulating  grass-land,  of  park-like  appearance,  dotted  with  gigantic  mango  trees ;  the  ponds 
are  covered  with  rushes  and  water-lilies ;  and  the  air  is  perfumed  with  the  blossoms  of  the 
orange  and  clove.     The  population  is  estimated  at  about  two  hundred  and  ten  thousand. 

The  town  contains  about  sixty  thousand  permanent  inhabitants ;  while  probably  from  thirty 
to  forty  thousand  strangers  come  from  Arabia,  India  and  the  northern  parts  of  Africa  during  the 
season  of  the  north-east  monsoon.  Seen  from  the  sea  the  town  has  rather  a  handsome  appear- 
ance, its  white  stone  houses  standing  out  against  the  background  very  conspicuously;  but  the 
interior  aspect  is  not  so  agreeable,  the  streets  being  narrow,  crooked  and  tisually  filthy.  The 
houses  of  the  principal  inhabitants  and  of  the  European  residents  are  large,  flat-roofed  buildings, 
generally  with  an  interior  courtyard  ;  and  some  of  them,  and  especially  the  palace  of  the  sultan, 
may  almost  claim  to  be  magnificent.  The  chief  people  are  the  Arab  landed  proprietors,  who 
form  a  sort  of  aristocracy',  possessing  large  plantations  and  numerous  slaves ;  besides  these  there 
are  slaves,  free  blacks,  natives  of  the  Comora  Islands  and  Madagascar,  and  from  five  to  six 


96  AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 

thousand  natives  of  India  (Banyans),  who  keep  nearly  all  the  shops  in  the  town  and  through 
whose  hands  nearly  all  the  foreign  trade  passes.  Their  vessels,  called  dhows,  are  found  in  all 
seas  in  this  part  of  the  world,  and  their  agents— principally  Arabs— travel  far  into  the  interior 
of  the  continent.  The  illustration  on  page  94  gives  the  portrait,  as  he  appeared  in  his  office, 
of  one  of  these  Indian  negotiants,  Ladha-Rainji,  who  was  collector  of  customs  in  Zanzibar  in 
i860,  and  of  great  service  to  Captain  Speke  in  securing  him  a  number  of  native  porters  for  his 
expedition  into  the  interior.  The  language  of  the  court  and  of  the  Arab  population  is  Arabic, 
while  the  slaves  and  the  free  black  population  speak  a  dialect  called  Kisaivahcli,  one  of  the 
great  family  of  South  African  langiiages.  Since  January,  1873,  the  British  Indian  Steamship 
Company  has  maintained  monthly  comnmnication  between  Aden,  Zanzibar  and  Madagascar, 
and  the  trade  is  steadily  increasing.  The  principal  exports  are  ivory,  cloves,  pepper  and  skins  ; 
and  among  the  imports,  cotton.  Formerly  the  great  staple  of  the  town  was  slaves,  and  the 
mart  where  these  unfortunates  were  exposed  was  one  of  the  sights  of  the  business  quarter.  An 
entry  in  Livingston's  last  journal,  under  date  of  March  2,  1866,  after  alluding  to  the  noxious 
odors  which  infested  Zanzibar,  says:  "I  visited  to-day  the  slave  market.  Three  hundred 
individuals,  nearly,  were  offered  for  sale ;  the  greater  number  of  them  from  Shire  and  Nyassa. 
Excepting  the  children,  all  seemed  to  feel  the  degradation  of  their  position.  Their  teeth  were 
examined,  their  clothing  lifted  to  inspect  the  legs,  and  a  stick  thrown  down  that  in  picking  it 
up  the  slave  might  show  his  action.  Some  of  them  were  dragged  about  through  the  middle  of 
the  crowd  with  the  price  demanded  for  them  continually  shouted  aloud.  The  greater  number 
of  the  buyers  were  Persians  or  Arabs.  These  last,  as  well  as  the  natives,  treat  their  slaves,  it  is 
said,  with  kindness,  which  is  to  say,  that  they  share  in  the  general  indolence.  But  the  high  rank 
of  the  master  does  not  tend  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  his  slave;  on  the  contrary,  the  nearer 
the  former  approaches  his  chattel  in  social  standing,  the  less  is  demanded  of  the  latter.  In 
proportion  as  society  becgmes  more  complex,  the  daily  needs  augment  and  servile  labor  is 
increased." 

Of  the  horrors  of  this  traffic  two  or  three  quotations  from  his  journal,  on  this  last  march  into 
the  interior,  will  testify:  "June  19.  Passed  to-day  by  the  body  of  a  woman  fastened  to  a  tree, 
and  by  the  neck  ;  she  was  dead.  The  people  of  the  country  relate  that  she  was  unable  longer 
to  follow  the  band,  and  that  the  slave  trader  was  unwilling  that  she  should  become  the  property 
of  anyone  who  might  find  her,  in  case  she  should  recover.  Another  had  been  stabbed,  or  killed 
with  a  bullet.  The  reason  is  always  the  same ;  furious  at  the  loss  of  his  money  the  trader 
assuages  his  wrath  by  killing  the  slave  who  can  no  longer  walk."  "June  27.  Saw  a  man  who 
must  have  died  from  exhaustion,  as  the  body  was  nothing  but  a  skeleton.  One  of  our  men  had 
strayed  from  the  path  and  found  a  number  of  slaves,  their  necks  in  the  yoke  and  abandoned  by 
the  purchaser,  for  lack  of  provisions.  They  no  longer  had  strength  to  speak ;  some  of  them 
were  very  young." 

The  towns  in  the  interior  of  the  continent  are  mostly  aggregates  of  lightly  constructed 
wooden  huts,  and  in  almost  every  case  are  surrounded  by  stockades  designed  to  serve  as  a 
defense.  "These  villages  are  all  as  jealous  of  their  independence  as  if  their  petty  chiefs  were 
all  Percys  and  Douglases,"  says  Stanley;  "each  bravely  perched  upon  a  little  knoll  or  the  ridge 
of  a  valley,  with  the  air  of  defiance  of  a  cock  upon  his  own  dunghill."  The  tcrnbes  or  houses  of 
the  Arabs  settled  in  the  interior  to  the  west  of  the  Zanzibar  coast  are  of  greater  pretensions 
than  the  native  huts.  Those  of  Ujiji  are  described  by  Stanley  as  "solid,  spacious,  flat-roofed 
structures,  with  broad,  cool  verandas  facing  the  public  roads."  Among  the  Waholcomo,  on  the 
banks  of  the  river  Tana,  it  is  the  custom,  according  to  Denhardt,  a  recent  explorer  in  that 
region,  for  the  youths  to  live  together  in  large  huts  separate  from  their  parents.  On  the  fertile 
banks  of  the  Congo,  above  the  lower  falls,  the  villages,  or  rather  towns — some  of  them  being 
two  miles  in  length — are  described  by  Stanley  as  having  broad  streets  bordered  by  rows  of  well- 
built  houses,  far  superior  to  those  of  the  more  easterly  parts  of  Africa. 

The  long  search  for  the  sources  of  the  Nile,  handed  down  from  generation  to  generation,  was 
finally  ended  by  the  discovery  of  the  great  fresh-water  lake,  the  Victoria  N'yanza,  by  Captain 
Speke  in  1858.  More  fully  explored  by  Speke  and  Grant  in  1862,  it  was  circumnavigated  by 
Stanley  in  1875.  The  native  name  N'yanza  signifies  simply  "the  water,"  but  Speke  named  it 
the  Victoria  N'yanza,  in  honor  of  his  sovereign.     Its  southern  point  is  in  lat.  2°  44'  S.,  long. 


Killing  Exhausted  Slav 


98 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


Gate  of  a  Village. 


33°  E.  Its  northern  shore  rnns  nearly  parallel  to  the  eqnator  and  is  abont  twenty  miles  north 
of  it.  Speke  supposed  that  it  formerly  covered  a  larger  area ;  at  present  it  is  estimated  to  be 
two  hundred  and  twenty  miles  in  length  and  fully  as  much  in  breadth.  It  is  of  no  great  depth  ; 
the  surface  is  three  thousand  seven  hundred  and  forty  feet  above  the  sea-level.  There  are  fleets 
of  canvas  on  the  lake,  and  yet  there  is  no  communication  between  the  tribes  on  its  opposite 
shores,  who  are  quite  unknown  to  each  other.  North-east  of  it  lies  Lake  Baringo,  described  by 
the  natives  as  a  long,  narrow  basin,  and  probably  connected  with  the  N  'yanza.  The  countries 
on  the  west  shores  of  the  lake  enjoy  a  mild  and  genial  climate,  equal  to  that  of  England  in 
summer.  The  natives  of  Karangu^  and  Uganda,  on  the  western  shores,  are  superior  races,  with 
a  considerable  degree  of  civilization.  The  banana,  coffee  and  date  palm  abound,  and  hundreds 
of  white,  hornless  cattle  were  seen  browsing  in  the  richest  pasture  lands.  The  principal  feeder 
of  the  N' yanza  on  the  west  is  the  Kitangnle,  and  from  its  northern  side  issue  several  streams 
which  unite  to  form  the  Nile.  The  principal  of  these  flows  through  Napoleon  Channel,  over 
the  Ripon  Falls.  North-west  from  this  lake  lies  the  Albert  N'yanza,  discovered  in  1866,  and 
connected  with  Victoria  N'yanza  by  the  Victoria  Nile,  which  flows  through  Lake  Coja.  The 
White  Nile  issues  from  the  Albert  N'yanza,  and  as  the  region  receives  an  immense  rainfall,  this 
is  thought  to  be  the  really  efiective  cause  of  the  annual  overflowing  of  the  Nile. 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


99 


On  the  8th  of  March,  1875,  Stanley  set  sail,  in  the  "lyady  Alice,"  from  the  Gulf  of  Speke, 
which  he  so  named,  to  sail  around  the  shores  of  this  great  lake — a  literal  voyage  into  the 
unknown.  "Afloat  on  the  Victoria!"  says  his  journal ;  "the  sky  is  sombre,  the  water  is  gray, 
the  rocks  are  naked  and  frowning,  the  shore  is  gloomy  and  solitary.  My  companions  sigh 
dolorously ;  their  rowing  is  that  of  men  who  believe  themselves  going  to  certain  death.  From 
time  to  time  they  look  at  me  long  and  earnestly,  as  though  they  hoped  to  receive  the  order  to 
return."  On  the  eastern  shore  of  the  lake,  near  its  northern  extremity,  they  visited  the 
beautiful  little  island  shown  in  the  illustration,  the  ' '  Island  of  the  Bridge, ' '  so  called  from  ' '  a 
basaltic  arch,  of  an  irregular  shape,  twenty-five  feet  long  and  twelve  high,  which  unites  the  two 
ends  of  the  island.  lyow-trunked  trees,  bushes  and  tall  grasses  drape  this  curious  island ;  and 
in  the  interstices  of  the  rock,  where  a  thick  mould  has  collected,  spring  fine  mangrove  trees. 
From  the  summit,  which  is  fifty  feet  above  the  surface  of  the  lake,  may  be  had  a  fine  view  of 
the  island  of  Uginngo,  proud  in  its  isolation,  and  of  the  steep  mountains  of  Ugeyeya.  To  the 
east  extend  the  plains  of  the  Vouagannsou  and  the  Vouagassi.  To  the  north  appear  vaguely 
unknown  lands  of  which  the  lines  are  broken  by  domes  and  peaks,  and  to  the  left  extends  a  sea 
without  limits. ' ' 

After  the  explorers  come  the  hunters — the  men  who  care  little  for  the  mysteries  of  unknown 
lands,  but  who  eagerly  embrace  the  opportunity  to  brave  hardship  and  danger  of  all  kinds  in 
the  pursuit  of  the  great  game  which  haunt  these  remote  countries.  Among  the  most  celebrated 
of  these  is  William  Charles  Baldwin,  member  of  the  Geographical  Society  of  London,  and  who, 
as  he  relates  in  his  "African  Hunting,"  was  induced  to  visit  the  hunting  fields  of  South  Africa 
by  the  example  of  two  of  his  friends  and  the  perusal  of  the  narrative  of  Gordon  Gumming.  He 
arrived  at  Port  Natal  in  December,  1851,  and  joined  an  expedition  which  was  being  prepared 
by  a  Mr.  White  for  the  country  of  the  Zulus.  From  there  their  route  led  irregularly  northward 
as  far  as  the  Victoria  Falls  of  the  Zambesi,  and  the  hunting  was  all  that  the  most  ardent  Nimrod 


Island  of  the  Bridge,  Victoria  N'yanza. 


,02  AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 

could  desire.  One  or  two  of  Mr.  Baldwin's  episodes  may  give  some  idea  of  the  nature  of  his 
sport.  Under  date  of  the  iSth  of  December  he  records :  "We  encountered  yesterday  a  quantity 
of  game,  killed  two  giraffes,  four  rhinoceroses,  and  had  the  most  amusing  hunt  since  leaving 
Mexico.  A  troop  of  buffaloes,  a  hundred  of  them  at  least,  roused  themselves  on  the  right,  just 
ahead  of  tiie  giraffe  that  I  had  separated  from  the  others ;  but  they  were  soon  distanced,  for  we 
went  at  a  devil  of  a  pace.  IMy  giraffe  took  to  the  left  and  continued  in  that  direction  ;  I  had  at 
fifty  feet  behind  me  the  buffaloes,  who  came  on  at  full  speed.  The  situation  was  not  altogether 
reassuring;  if  mv  horse  had  fallen  the  whole  mass  would  have  gone  over  my  body  and  I  should 
have  been  reduced  to  powder.  But  thanks  to  the  rapidity  of  our  course,  we  soon  distanced  the 
buflliloes.  I  fired  at  the  giraffe;  Swartz  arrived  in  the  meanwhile  and  finished  the  animal  which 
I  had  wounded  somewhat  too  low.  I  afterwards  fired  at  a  great  female  rhinoceros  who  was  flee- 
ing at  top  speed,  and  rolled  her  over  in  fine  style ;  the  ball  broke  the  spinal  column — a  very  rare 
occurrence."  Occasionally,  especially  when  pressed  for  fresh  meat,  the  hunter  had  recourse  to 
the  plan  of  watching  at  night  by  the  drinking  places  where  the  wild  beasts  came  to  quench  their 
thirst:;  but  he  makes  it  his  boast  that  nearly  all  his  grim  game  were  bagged  openly  in  daylight, 
in  what  might  be  called  a  fair  fight.  Some  of  his  nocturnal  adventures  were  sufficiently  perilous; 
lions,  elephants  and  occasionally  a  rhinoceros  fell  before  his  rifle.  On  one  occasion,  the  lion  in 
his  bound  knocked  both  Baldwin  and  his  companion  heels  over  head  off  the  top  of  the  hut 
where  they  were  stationed  ;  on  another,  one  of  his  native  attendants  was  obliged  to  flatten 
himself  in  one  corner  of  his  nocturnal  rifle-pit,  while  the  elephant  carefully  explored  with  his 
trunk  every  other  foot  of  the  ditch  in  search  of  the  hunter.  Fortune  favors  the  adventurous, 
however,  and  our  hunter  survived  all  the  chances  of  his  expedition,  and  returned  safely  to 
England,  in  March,  1861. 

The  attention  of  Europe  has  been  called  to  the  island  of  Madagascar,  within  the  last  few 
years,  by  the  claims  which  the  French  have  been  making  upon  the  government  of  Queen  Rana- 
valona  II.,  of  a  protectorate  over  the  northern  part  of  the  island,  of  certain  general  rights  over 
the  whole  island  and  of  the  payment  of  an  indemnity  of  one  million  francs — all  in  pursuance 
of  that  system  of  colonial  enterprise  which  the  successive  rulers  of  France  have  so  favored 
within  the  last  decade  or  two.  In  1S82  the  envoys  of  the  Malagasy  government  visited  France, 
Germany  and  England,  and  in  March,  1883,  the  United  States,  where  they  had  no  difficulty  in 
negotiating  a  treaty,  ratified  by  the  State  Department  on  March  13th.  The  government  of 
Madagascar  is  a  monarchical  despotism,  but  the  authority  of  the  supreme  ruler  weakens  as  the 
distance  from  the  capital  increases.  Public  assemblies  are  still  called  and  addressed  by  the 
sovereign,  but  not  consulted.  A  body  of  judges  sits  constantly  in  public  to  hear  complaints  and 
settle  disputes,  but  they  are  not  guided  by  any  written  code  of  laws.  Of  late  years  Christianity 
has  made  considerable  progress  in  the  island.  The  first  missionaries  appeared  in  1818,  but 
some  years  after,  they  were  banished  and  the  native  Christians  persecuted.  The  island  was  not 
reopened  to  Europeans  till  1862.  Since  then  Christianity  has  been  recognized  by  the  govern- 
ment, thousands  of  converts  have  been  made  and  numerous  native  churches  built.  The 
inhabitants,  who  are  known  by  the  name  of  Malagasy,  appear  to  form  substantially  a  single 
race,  though  they  have  received  a  considerable  admixture  of  African  blood,  chieflj-  through 
the  importation  of  slaves,  and  also  a  certain  amount  of  Arab  intermixture.  All  the  tribes  speak 
substantially  the  same  tongue,  are — if  pure  blooded — of  the  same  color,  a  light  olive,  and  have 
much  the  same  customs.  The  Horas  are  the  ruling  tribe ;  their  proper  country-  is  the  elevated 
region  of  the  interior,  but  they  have  extended  their  sway  over  most  of  the  island.  The  total 
population  of  the  island  is  estimated  at  four  millions,  or  about  seventeen  and  a  half  to  the 
square  mile,  a  density  far  below  what  the  island  is  easily  capable  of  sustaining. 

Its  length  is  a  thousand  and  thirty  miles;  its  greatest  breadth,  three  hundred  and  fifty,  and 
the  total  area  is  larger  than  that  of  Great  Britain.  It  is  traversed  throughout  its  entire  length 
by  a  mountain  range,  rising  in  several  of  its  summits  to  ten  or  twelve  thousand  feet,  and  sending 
off  branches  towards  the  shores,  which,  however,  are  generally  low.  The  most  striking  feature 
in  the  vegetation  of  Madagascar  is  a  belt  of  dense  forest,  with  an  average  breadth  of  fifteen 
miles,  passing  round  the  whole  island  and  broken  only  by  a  gap  in  the  north-west,  where  the 
two  ends  of  the  forest  overlap.  The  capital  is  Antananarivo  or  Tananarivo,  the  "City  of  a 
Thousand  Towns,"  situated  on  a  rocky  ridge  near  the  centre  of  the  island,  and  containing 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


103 


lit,  iji,^>ii 

Antananarivo,  the  Capital  of  Madagascar. 


upwards  of  a  hundred  thousand  inhabitants.  The  approach  to  it  from  Tamatave,  the  chief 
seaport,  is  extremely  tedious  and  difficult,  owing  to  the  want  of  good  roads.  The  royal  palace 
occupies  the  summit  of  the  hill ;  adjoining  are  the  dwellings  of  the  chief  officers  of  government, 
and  below  these,  covering  the  slope  of  the  hill,  the  houses  of  the  other  inhabitants,  constructed 
almost  entirely  of  wood.  The  uniform  shape  of  the  houses,  which  are  just  plain  huts  covered 
with  brown  thatch,  gives  a  sombre  appearance  to  the  place.  A  few  trees,  apparently  a  species 
of  fig  tree,  are  visible  here  and  there  in  the  higher  part  of  the  city. 


Cx\PE  COLONY  is  a  British  colony  at  the  south  of  Africa,  consisting  in  a  strict  sense  of  the 
area  bounded  mainly  by  the  Orange  and  Great  Kei  rivers  on  the  north,  and  on  all  other 
sides  by  the  sea,  and  thus  extending  about  four  hundred  and  forty  miles  from  north  to  south,  and 
about  six  hundred  from  east  to  west,  and  having  an  area  more  than  twice  that  of  Great  Britain ; 
but  in  a  wider  sense  it  includes  also  the  Transkeian  Districts,  Griqua  Land  West,  Basuto  Land  and 
Kaffi-aria,  all  of  which  are  under  the  governor  of  the  Cape  Colony,  bringing  the  total  area  of  the 
colony  and  its  dependencies  up  to  about  two  hundred  and  forty-one  thousand  square  miles.  The 
colony  takes  its  name  from  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  popularly  regarded  as  the  most  southerly  pro- 
montory of  Africa,  though  it  is  half  a  degree  to  the  north  of  Cape  Agulhas.  The  latter  is  merely  a 
projection  on  a  coast  line  which  diverges  inconsiderably  from  a  parallel ;  but  the  former  is  really  the 
turning  point  from  south  to  east  on  the  voyage  from  Europe  to  India.  This  celebrated  promontor}' 
is  in  lat.  34°  22'  S.,  and  long.  18°  29'  E.,  being  the  termination  of  Table  Mountain,  which,  as  it 
recedes  towards  the  bay  of  its  own  name,  rises  from  the  height  of  a  thousand  feet  above  the  sea 
to  that  of  thirty-five  hundred.  The  Cape — for  so  it  is  called  by  way  of  eminence — was  discov- 
ered and  doubled  by  Diaz,  a  Portuguese  navigator,  as  early  as  i486 — six  years  before  Columbus, 
in  aiming  at  the  same  goal  by  a  different  route,  led  the  way  to  America.     But  it  was  only  in 


104 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


1497  that  Vasco  de  Gama  realized  the  value  of  Diaz's  discove-n-  by  rounding  it  on  his  adven- 
turous voyage  from  Lisbon  to  Calicut.  The  result  was  not  merely  to  open  a  new  channel  for 
the  traffic  of  the  East,  but  it  was  also  to  transfer  trading  superiority  from  the  republics  of  Italy 
to  the  states  of  Western  Europe. 

The  Portuguese,  possessing  in  Brazil  a  more  central  house  of  call  in  the  direction  of  India, 
were  comparatively  independent  of  Table  Bay  as  a  halting  place.  In  like  manner  the  Dutch, 
who  had  supplanted  the  original  discoverers  at  once  in  India  and  in  Brazil,  must  have  felt  some- 
thing of  the  same  indifference.  It  was,  therefore,  only  in  1652,  when  they  were  on  the  ver>' 
point  of  being  expelled  from  South  America,  that  they  founded  Cape  Town,  as  the  first  settle- 
ment of  Europeans  in  South  Africa.  The  Dutch  contemplated  at  first  but  little  more  than  what 
they  found  among  the  Hottentots — the  tending  of  flocks  and  herds;  and  this  would  be  all  the 
more  likelv  to  provoke  and  aggravate  animosities  and  collisions  between  the  intruding  strangers 


View  of  Cape  Town. 


and  the  natives.  In  1795  this  dependency  of  Holland,  threatened  with  the  revolutionar>-  tide 
which  had  already  overwhelmed  Holland  itself,  was  seized  by  a  British  force  on  behalf  of  the 
Prince  of  Orange.  Restored  in  1802  to  the  Dutch,  under  the  treaty  of  Amiens,  the  Cape  Colony 
was  once  more  captured,  and  that  finally,  by  the  English  in  1806.  The  new  masters  of  the 
countrj-,  inheriting  from  their  predecessors  a  ready-made  feud,  fronted  on  the  east  the  Kaffirs,  a 
warlike  and  proud  race,  which,  with  the  exception  of  pastoral  pursuits,  had  nothing  in  common 
with  the  Hottentots.  The  almost  inevitable  results  followed — a  normal  state  of  insecurity  and 
strife  on  the  border,  diversified  by  at  least  three  actual  wars.  After  twice  advancing  to  the  Kei, 
the  colony,  as  a  whole,  has  receded  to  the  Keiskamma,  retaining,  however,  the  port  of  East 
London ;  while  the  rest  of  the  intermediate  region  has  been  placed,  as  British  Kaffraria,  under 
the  military  authorities  of  the  Empire.  But  during  brief  periods  the  country-  extended  farther, 
embracing,  from  1842  to  1847,  Port  Natal  beyond  Kaffraria,  and  from  1848  to  1854  what  is  now 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


105 


In  the  Drakenstein  Mountains. 


the  Free  State,  between  the  Orange  and  its  main  affluent,  the  Vaal.  Across  the  last-mentioned 
stream,  too,  discontented  or  adventurous  settlers,  ahnost  exclusively  of  Dutch  origin,  have 
planted,  under  the  name  of  the  Trans- Vaal  Territory,  a  prosperous  republic. 

Cape  Town,  the  capital  of  the  colony,  faces  the  south-west,  or  best  sheltered,  side  of  Table 
Bay,  having  at  its  back  Table  Mountain.  It  was  founded  in  1652  by  Van  Riebeek,  the  founder 
of  the  colony,  and  abounds  in  straight  lines  and  right  angles,  the  principal  streets  being  threaded 
by  canals.  The  houses  generally  are  flat-roofed,  with  terraces  in  front.  The  castle,  a  regular 
fortification,  with  bastions  and  outworks,  occupies  the  extreme  east.  Besides  the  government 
house  and  the  courts  and  government  offices,  there  is  a  university,  a  botanic  garden  with  a  fine 
collection  of  plants,  and  an  observatory.  The  port  has  been  provided  with  a  breakwater  two 
thousand  feet  long,  inside  of  which  ships  can  safely  ride  at  anchor.  A  large  graving-dock  has 
also  been  constructed.  The  situation  of  the  city  has  been  compared  to  that  of  Valparaiso.  An 
English  lady,  travelling  with  her  husband  to  the  diamond  fields,  thus  records  her  first  impres- 
sions of  the  town  and  the  colony: 

"After  a  fatiguing  voyage,  which  had  much  exceeded  the  time  usually  employed  in  the 
passage  from  Southampton  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  we  arrived  in  Table  Bay,  June  17,  1S72, 
at  five  o'clock  in  the  morning,  in  frightful  weather  and  a  deluge  of  rain.  We  were  obliged  to 
come  to  anchor,  it  being  impossible  to  enter  the  harbor.  Numerous  small  boats  came  out  to 
offer  us  fruits,  oranges,  guaiavas,  pomegranates  and  bananas.  With  the  exception  of  the 
oranges,  which  were  as  sour  as  vinegar,  all  these  fruits  had  a  sufficiently  strong  flavor  of  turpen- 
tine. We  were  told  that  in  Cape  Town  they  were  eaten  with  a  knife  and  fork  and  seasoned 
with  salt.  After  every  variety  of  disagreeable  experience  we  finally  landed,  my  husband  and 
mvself,  and  I  experienced  an  inexpressible  emotion  at  thus  setting  foot  in  an  unknown  country-, 
where  I  was  to  live  among  savages. 

"Through  pouring  rain  and  frightful   mud,  wet  to  the  skin,  not  having  been  able  to  find 


io6  AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 

accommodations  either  at  the  Royal  Hotel  nor  the  Masonic  Hotel,  we  finally  secured  lodgings 
at  the  Commercial  Hotel.  We  found  the  whole  city  excited  over  the  news  of  an  extraordinary 
robbery,  which  had  been  committed  by  a  man  named  Hopkins,  in  the  mail-coach  of  West  Griqua 
Land,  the  diamond  country.  He  had  been  arrested  just  as  he  was  about  to  sail  for  Europe,  and 
diamonds  to  the  value  of  four  hundred  thousand  dollars  had  been  found  secreted  in  his  gun. 

"I  will  not  give  any  description  of  Cape  Town  ;  we  only  passed  through  it,  and  the  weather 
was  so  atrocious  that  ever)'thing  around  us  was  only  seen  through  a  mist.  The  greater  part  of 
the  houses  are  large ;  the  shops  have  no  show-windows,  as  in  Europe,  and  they  are  closed  at  five 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  The  fashions  seem  to  be  somewhat  out  of  season ;  the  wife  and  the 
daughter  of  the  governor,  who  were  pointed  out  to  me,  were  wearing  velvet  and  merinoes  in  a 
tropical  heat.  We  secured  two  places  in  the  'Inland  Transport  Company,'  for  the  sum  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty  dollars.  The  coach,  which  we  took  at  Wellington,  the  temporary  terminus 
of  the  railway,  we  were  told  was  a  grand  affair,  with  places  for  twelve  persons  on  four  seats  ;  it 
was  covered  with  canvas  attached  with  thongs,  as  a  protection  against  rain  and  sun.  Only  eighty 
pounds  of  baggage  could  be  carried  ;  the  remainder  must  follow  by  another  conveyance. 

"The  weather  continued  pitiless  ;  it  rained  the  entire  night.  At  five  o'clock  in  the  morning 
we  took  our  way  to  the  railway  station  on  foot,  through  a  sea  of  red  mud — there  being  no 
vehicles  obtainable  at  that  early  hour.  At  the  depot  everybody  was  asleep.  As  we  could  not 
make  the  sleepy  clerk  attend  to  us,  we  secured  a  pastepot  and  labelled  our  baggage  ourselves, 
'  To  the  Diamond  Fields. '  Somehow  or  another,  we  managed  to  install  ourselves  in  a  compart- 
ment, where  we  found — not  much  to  our  satisfaction — Messrs.  Moses  and  Moss,  two  Jews  of  very 
slight  education,  who  had  been  our  fellow-passengers  on  the  steamer. 

"At  Wellington  we  took  the  stage-coach,  a  horrible  machine,  with  Moses,  Moss,  WolflF  and 
Cohen,  three  other  persons,  and  a  woman  who  was  going  to  rejoin  her  husband  at  Du  Toit's 
Pan.  I  cannot  give  you  any  idea  of  the  abominable  odor  which  exhaled  from  the  wet  India 
rubber,  the  leather,  the  brandy-  and  the  sausages  with  which  these  people  had  liberally  pro- 
vided themselves.  And  remember  that  we  were  shut  up  seven  days  at  least  in  this  box.  We 
were  drawn  by  fourteen  miserable  horses  driven  by  two  men — one  held  the  reins  and  the  other 
a  whip  eight  yards  in  length,  very  skilfully  handled.  These  drivers,  who  were  certainly 
expert,  were  Malays.  For  the  space  of  two  hours  we  followed  a  sufficiently  wide  and  handsome 
road;  then  we  arrived  at  a  mountain  traversed  by  a  deep  ravine.  This  road  had  been  constructed, 
or  rather  sunken,  in  the  flanks  of  the  mountain  by  an  engineer,  Mr.  Bain,  who  had  no  other 
laborers  than  convicts  from  the  Cape.  The  work  had  taken  seven  years  to  execute,  and  was 
known  as  Bain's  Kloof." 

After  a  week  of  this  most  fatiguing  and  uncomfortable  journey  our  travellers  arrived  at  Du 
Toit's  Pan,  in  the  diamond  fields,  and  hired  a  small  claim  which  they  set  to  work  on  shares. 
Of  the  innumerable  little  and  big  miseries  and  inconveniences  of  all  sorts  which  attended  their 
first  experience  in  this  mining,  the  narrator  gives  a  forcible  description ;  at  the  end  of  a  year 
they  were  glad  to  sell  for  forty-five  dollars  the  claim  for  which  they  had  paid  a  hundred  and  in 
which  they  had  found  almost  nothing.  In  the  hopes  of  bettering  their  fortune  they  broke  up 
their  modest  housekeeping  and  set  out  for  the  Kimberley  Mine,  where,  they  had  been  informed, 
considerable  sums  had  been  gained  by  the  process  of  washing  out  again  earth  that  had  once 
before  been  gone  over.  The  first  miner  they  questioned,  on  their  arrival  at  this  -place,  assured 
them  that  with  three  small  machines  he  had  been  able  in  seven  months  to  put  four  thousand 
dollars  in  bank.  But  no  such  good  fortune  awaited  our  couple,  and  at  the  end  of  nearly  five  years, 
completely  discouraged,  they  abandoned  all  hopes  of  any  better  chance  and  determined  to  return 
to  England.  To  get  back  to  Cape  Town,  they  procured  a  wagon  for  themselves,  drawn  by 
oxen,  and  thus  avoided  the  risks  of  dependence  upon  the  uncertain  hospitality  of  the  Boer 
farmers.  Their  route  dififered  slightly  from  that  which  they  had  taken  when  first  going  out; 
they  left  it  just  before  arriving  at  the  Drakenstein  Mountains,  which  they  crossed  by  the  pass 
known  as  Mitchell's,  but  without  any  adventures.  On  their  arrival  in  Cape  Town,  anxious  as 
they  were  to  embark,  they  yet  devoted  some  days  to  a  visit  to  the  celebrated  vineyards  of 
Constance,  on  the  urgent  recommendation  of  the  proprietor  from  whom  they  had  hired  their 
first  claim  at  Du  Toit's  Pan.  The  fame  of  this  establishment  dates  from  1685.  It  is  said  that 
the  governor  Simon  van  der  Steel,  who  took  a  great  interest  in  agriculture,  resolved  to  find  some 


AFRICA  ILLUSTRATED. 


107 


suitable  place,  if  possible,  for  the  culture  of  the  vine,  and  for  this  purpose  caused  comparative 
analyses  to  be  made  of  French  and  Rhine  wines  and  of  those  of  Rondebosch,  of  Boscheuvel,  of 
Tygerberg  and  of  Constance,  and  instituted  a  search  through  the  colony  for  a  soil  similar  to  that 
-which  produced  the  last  named.  He  obtained  of  the  Baron  Van  Rheede  van  Drakenstein, 
commissioner  of  the  Holland  Company  and  who  had  given  his  name  to  the  district,  a  concession 
of  the  land  comprised  in  that  which  is  now  known  as  Great  and  Little  Constance,  Witteboom, 
Bergoleit,  etc. ;  he  procured  choice  plants  and  with  the  stock  of  Muscat  and  that  of  Catalogue 
he  succeeded  in  giving  to  the  wine  grown  at  Constance  those  qualities  which  in,ake  it  so  valued 
by  connoisseurs  to-day.  The  establishment  was  sold  in  1715  with  the  princely  mansion,  around 
which  Van  der  Steel  had  laid  out  his  handsome  vineyards.  The  place  has  preser\'ed  the  name 
of  Grand  Constance ;  Mr.  Sebastian  Vanrenen  acquired  the  adjoining  one  of  Witteboom,  and  as 
the  soil  on  each  is  the  same,  his  wines  possess  the  same  celebrity.  These  two  fine  properties 
are  one  of  the  best-known  sights  of  the  colony,  and  are  visited  by  all  strangers  arriving  at 
Cape  Town. 

The  native  inhabitants  of  the  Cape  Colony,  at  the  time  of  the  first  European  settlements  in 
the  seventeenth  century,  were  Hottentots  and  their  kinsmen,  the  Bushmen.     These  form  a  race 


At  the  Bottom  of  the  Kimberley  Mine. 


loS 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


The  Vineyards  of  Constance. 


by  themselves,  having  in  common  marked  physical  features,  and  speaking  dialects  quite  distinct 
from  all  other  languages  spoken  elsewhere.  The  name  Hottentot  was  originally  applied  to  the 
race  by  the  Dutch ;  they  calling  themselves  Koi-Koin  or  Quae-Quae,  that  is,  the  people.  They 
support  themselves  chiefly  as  nomadic  cattle  raisers,  and  their  kraals  or  villages  are  composed  of 
huts  made  of  branches  and  twigs,  covered  with  mats  or  sheepskins.  Their  language  is  remarkable 
for  the  prevalence  in  it  of  sounds  known  as  clicks  or  clucks,  which  are  produced  by  pressing  the 
tongue  against  the  teeth,  or  some  part  of  the  palate,  and  then  smartly  withdrawing  it.  The 
Bushmen  or  Bosjesmans,  or,  as  they  call  themselves,  the  Saan,  are  the  most  degraded  section 
of  the  race  to  which  they  belong,  and  indeed  one  of  the  most  uncivilized  tribes  on  the  face  of 
the  globe.  They  are  found  not  only  in  the  Cape  Colony,  where  they  are  thinly  scattered  over 
the  territory  within  the  innermost  range  of  mountains,  but  also  throughout  the  middle  region 
of  the  Kalahari  Desert,  and  even  as  far  north  as  the  districts  about  the  Ovambo  River  in  lat. 
i8°  S.  They  live  entirely  by  hunting,  and  show  so  strong  a  disinclination  to  give  up  their 
vagabond  mode  of  life  that  they  have  been  called  the  gipsies  of  South  Africa.  With  equal 
propriety  they  may  be  called  the  Ishmaelites  of  that  region,  since  their  hand  is  against  every  man 
and  every  man's  hand  against  them.  All  the  adjoining  native  tribes  look  uiDon  them  as  their 
natural  enemies,  and  in  earlier  times  they  were  captured  for  slaves  by  the  Boers,  or  Dutch 
settlers.  The  Bushmen  with  whom  the  settlers  in  the  South  African  colonies  come  most  in 
contact  are  remarkable  for  the  smallness  of  their  stature,  averaging  only  about  four  feet  six 
inches  in  height;  but  those  dwelling  farther  north  are  said  to  possess  a  fine  physique.  The 
dwellings  of  the  Bushmen,  as  might  be  expected,  are  even  more  rude  than  those  of  their  kinsmen, 
the  Hottentots  proper.  In  the  mountains  they  are  often  content  with  hanging  up  a  few  mats  in 
front  of  the  rocks  on  the  windward  side. 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


109 


THE  Frencli  settlement  on  the  Gaboon  River,  nnder  the  equator,  was  established  in  1842  for 
the  sake  of  the  rich  trade  in  ivory  and  palm-oil.  Negotiations  had  been  opened  the 
preceding  year  with  the  chiefs  of  the  neighboring  tribes  by  the  commandant  Bouet-Willaumez, 
and  it  was  without  opposition  that  Captain  de  Montleon  landed  a  company  of  marines,  some 
workmen  and  the  material  for  a  fortified  post,  and  took  possession  in  the  name  of  France  of  the 
bay  of  the  Gaboon  and  of  the  region  watered  by  its  numerous  affluents.  In  order  that  the 
country  should  be  the  more  thoroughly  Gallicised,  the  more  important  points  were  re-baptized 
with  the  names  of  the  various  members  of  the  then  reigning  Orleans  famih-;  but  this  innovation 
was  but  temporary.  The  object  of  the  colony  was  announced  to  be  to  take  possession  of  the 
excellent  harbor  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a  commercial  depot  of  supplies  for  the  numerous 
small  vessels  engaged  in  patrolling  the  coast  to  suppress  the  slave  trade.  This  bay,  which  lies 
in  latitude  about  0°  30'  N.,  is  ten  or  twelve  miles  long  and  from  seven  to  fifteen  in  width,  and 
offers  to  the  voyager — fatigued  with  the  monotonous  bareness  of  the  sandy  coast,  where  a  single 
tree  often  sei-ves  as  a  noted  landmark  to  the  sailor — a  refreshing  spectacle.  The  verdure  of  the 
inland  districts  here  comes  down  to  the  water's  edge,  and  the  native  villages  appear  half  hidden 
in  the  dense  foliage.  The  basin  in  which  the  bay  lies  is  bounded  on  the  east  by  a  range 
of  mountains  which  the  Portuguese  called  Sierra  del  Crystal,   and  from  which  issue  several 


French  Settlement  on  the  Gaboon. 


rivers.  South  and  east  of  it  is  a  much  more  important  stream,  the  Ogowe,  which  discharges 
its  waters  into  the  Atlantic  through  numerous  mouths ;  in  their  delta  is  the  well-known  head- 
land, Cape  Lopez. 

The  Gaboon  River,  which  rises  in  the  Crystal  Mountains  and  is  said  to  be  about  a  hundred 
and  twenty  miles  in  length,  is  a  deep  and  sluggish  stream,  its  waters  being  mostly  tidal.  Sixty 
miles  from  its  mouth  the  tide  rises  to  a  height  of  from  seven  to  nine  feet.  At  Baraka,  about 
eight  miles  up  the  river,  is  an  American  mission,  established  in  the  same  year  as  the  French 
settlement  on  the  bay.  The  pleasure  with  which  the  newly  arrived  traveller  greets  this 
verdurous  spot  is  not  destined  to  be  lasting.  The  climate — like  that  of  the  great  lakes  from 
which  the  Nile  issues  and  which  lie  in  the  same  latitude  as  the  Gaboon — is  one  of  great  heat 
and  great  rains.  The  annual  downpour  commences  on  the  15th  of  September,  with  singular 
exactness,  and  lasts  till  the  first  days  of  January;  it  then  ceases  during  about  six  weeks,  a 
period  known  as  the  little  dr}-  season,  but  which  is  nevertheless  ven,-  humid,  debilitating  and 
unhealthful.  At  the  end  of  this  time  the  rains  begin  again  and  fall  in  incessant  torrents  and 
tremendous  storms,  exercising  a  most  deplorable  eflTect  on  the  health.  Three  months  of  dry 
weather,  the  only  fine  season  of  the  year,  terminate  this  annual  round.  Notwithstanding  its 
position  directly  under  the  equator,  the  heat  of  the  region  is  not  very  great,  but  it  is  constant, 


1  lO 


AFRICA  ILLUSTRATED. 


JioreuiN^ 


Women  of  the  Fan  Tribe. 


iiid  the  humidity,  the  electrical  tension  of  the  air,  the  miasma  arising  from  the  numerous 
swamps,  engender  malarial  fevers  and  a  constant  sense  of  debility  and  weakness,  which  render  it 
impossible  for  the  European  race  to  become  acclimatized.  For  white  women  the  climate  is 
particularly  deadly,  and  the  perils  of  maternity  become  much  too  great  to  be  undertaken  under 
any  circumstances. 

The  tribes  of  the  country  are  numerous,  but  they  may  be  all  classed  under  four  general 
groups:  The  M'pongwfe,  who  live  on  the  seacoast  at  the  entrance  to  the  rivers  ;  the  Shekianis, 
doulons,  or  men  of  the  woods,  whose  home  is  in  the  forest  land  of  the  surrounding  regions ;  the 
Bakalais,  and  the  Fans,  or  Pahouins,  whose  cannibalistic  reputation  has  of  late  years  brought 
them  prominently  into  notice.  All  these  tribes  must  have  originally  come  from  a  distance ; 
they  are  not  the  aborigines  of  the  Gaboon  district,  but  most  probably  have  advanced  from  the 
interior  to  the  coast.     The  Fans,  for  instance,  only  made  their  appearance  a  few  years  ago, 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


Ill 


driving  the  Bakalais — who  originally  possessed  the  part  of  the  country  they  now  inhabit — before 
them.  In  time  they  will  dispossess,  or  at  least  commingle  with,  the  M'pongwes,  or  Gaboonese 
proper,  as  their  passion  for  colonization  and  their  power  to  onst  the  original  inhabitants  are  two 
very  well-marked  characteristics  of  this  not  particularly  amiable  people. 

The  M'pongwes  have  been  described  as  a  lazy  race,  a  nation  of  middle-men,  who  conduct 
long  haggling  bargains  with  the  palm-oil  traders — who,  in  their  own  opinion,  were  formed  for 
something  higher  than  work,  which  the  good  God  only  intended  for  white  men  and  Kroomen — 
whose  canoes  are  their  only  mode  of  communication  and  the  beach  their  only  highway.  Dress 
is  not  one  of  their  weaknesses ;  the  climate  effectually  checks  this  piece  of  original  sin  in  the 
M'pongwe  bosom.  The  women  wear  a  pair  of  cotton  drawers,  tied  round  the  waist  and  reaching 
to  the  middle  of  their  legs,  and  nothing  more.  On  great  occasions  they  may  indulge  in  a  piece 
of  cloth  thrown  over  the  shoulders,  and  falling  nearly  to  the  ground,  but  such  an  extravagant 
wardrobe  is  not  often  in  use.  The  young  girls  walk  with  a  light  elastic  step;  but  the  married 
women  move  heavily,  owing  to  the  load  of  copper  bracelets  on  their  legs  and  copper  rings  on 
their  toes.  So  many  bracelets  are  worn  on  the  legs  that  they  look  as  if  encased  in  metal  boots. 
The  M'pongwe  man,  according  to  the  Revue  Coloniale^  1856,  is,  "generally  speaking,  tall 
and  well  proportioned.     His   developed   muscles   betoken   great   strength.     The  leg  is  better 


Young  Fetish  Boy  of  the  Lake  Ionanga. 


I  I  2 


4 1' RICA   ILL USTRA  TED. 


YoNDOGOwiRO,  King  of  the  Sacred  Islands. 


formed  than  is  usually  the  case  among  the  blacks  ;  the  foot  is  flat,  but  the  instep  is  arched  ;  the 
hand  is  small  and  well  set  on  ;  the  shoulder  too  short  in  proportion  to  the  fore-arm  ;  the  eyes  are 
generally  fine  and  expressive  ;  the  nose  is  small  and  flattened  ;  the  mouth  moderately  large  ;  the 
lower  lip  is  thick  without  being  pendent;  the  teeth  are  generally  fine  and  regular.  The 
prognathous  form  is  very  rare.  The  color  is  bronzed  rather  than  black.  The  growth  of  hair  is 
comparatively  luxuriant.  The  greater  number  shave  a  portion  of  the  head  in  various  patterns, 
and  most  of  them  are  altogether  without  beard ;  and  lastly,  their  chests  are  large  and  well 
developed."  The  Shekiani,  Chekiani,  or  Rontons,  occupy  a  tract  of  country  lying  between  the 
Muni  and  Gaboon  Rivers.  They  are,  like  all  these  West  African  tribes,  divided  into  numerous 
sub-tribes,  M'bousha,  M'boundemo,  M'becho,  etc.  Their  character  is  far  from  good;  they  bear  the 
reputation  of  being  quarrelsome,  passionate,  revengeful  and  careless  of  inflicting  pain  or  death. 
The  Bakalais  comprise  a  large  and  powerful  tribe,  wide-spread  between  the  equator  and  two 
degrees  south  of  it,  and  between  long.  io°  and  13°  E.  They  are  a  wandering  people  and  colonize 
and  intermingle  with  other  tribes.  Ebony  and  the  usual  products  of  tropical  Africa  form  their 
commerce.  In  disposition  they  are  watchful  and  suspicious,  as  becomes  a  people  who  live  merely 
on  terms  of  armed  neutrality  with  neighbors  into  whose  country  they  have  wormed  their  way. 
Their  chief  homes  are  found  all  along  the  Rembo  River.     In  complexion  they  are  not  so  black 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


IJ3 


as  most  of  the  neighboring  tribes,  but  are  dirty  in  the  extreme.  The  Bakalais  and  the  Fans,  or 
Pahouns,  are  close  neighbors.  The  villages  of  the  latter  present  in  the  majority  of  cases  the 
appearance  of  a  sort  of  fortress,  the  two  or  three  hundred  houses  forming  them  being  arranged 
in  two  long  parallel  lines  on  each  side  of  a  broad  street,  each  extremity  of  which  is  defended  by 
a  guard.  The  appearance  of  the  population  is  striking  and  quite  different  from  that  of  their 
neighbors. 

The  children  are  lively,  alert  and  intelligent,  with  an  agreeable  and  regular  countenance. 
The  head  is  long ;  the  forehead,  large  and  prominent ;  the  eyes,  large  and  soft.  Unfortunately, 
these  characteristics  become  greatly  modified  at  the  age  of  puberty;  the  roundness  of  form  disap- 
pears, the  cheekbones  become  extremely  prominent,  the  temples  recede  and  the  forehead  acquires 
in  a  greater  and  greater  degree  that  remarkable  protuberance  which  is  one  of  the  most  striking 
physical  characteristics  of  the  race.  The  women  have  also  the  long  head  and  the  prominent 
forehead,  but  they  seldom  show  the  thin  and  bony  visage  of  the  men.  They  are  often  plump 
in  figure,  but  never  very  fat — an  infirmity  almost  unknown  among  the  blacks.  Their  hands  are 
often  surprisingly  fine  and  beautifully  attached;  but  these  qualities  do  not  prevent  the  Fan  ladies 
from  being,  with  some  rare  exceptions,  exceedingly  ugly.  The  arts  of  their  scanty  toilette  are 
not  adapted  to  increase  their  charms — at  least  in  the  eyes  of  a  European.  They  cover  their 
chests  with  necklaces,  and  attach  to  the  ends  of  their  tresses  a  number  of  small  pearls  which  fall 
on  the  shoulders  or  over  the  face ;  their  arms  and  legs  are  adorned  with  bracelets  in  copper  or 
polished  iron,  generally  in  the  shape  of  spiral  springs,  and  the  young  mothers  cover  themselves 
from  foot  to  head  with  a  sort  of  wash  made  from  a  decoction  of  red  wood.  They  carry  a  large 
sash  or  scarf,  covered  with  cowrie  shells  and  in  the  loop  of  which  reposes  the  sucking  infant. 

Due  south  of  the  country  of  the  Fans,  on  the  southern  side  of  the  Ogowe  River,  lies  the  lake 
lonanga  in  which  are  situated  the  "sacred  isles,"  celebrated  for  their  fetish  worship  and  for  the 
singular  phantom-like  mirages  which  are  said  to  be  seen  there  at  certain  times  during  the  rainy 


Encampment  of  Slaves  among  the  Okanda. 


114 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


season.  They  were  visited  by  a  French  exploring  party  from  the  Gaboon,  in  1865,  despite  the 
solemn  warnings  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  inevitable  fate  that  awaited  them  if  they  should  dare 
even  to  approach  the  shores.  On  the  island  of  Arouinbe,  however,  the  only  one  inhabited,  the\ 
were  received  by  a  number  of  young  boys,  devoted  to  the  care  of  the  mysteries  of  the  fetish, 
and,  as  such,  curiously  dressed.  The  pagne,  or  very  brief  cotton  drawers,  were  retained  around 
the  hips  by  a  girdle  of  pearls  and  ornamented  with  arabesque  patterns,  some  of  pearls  and  some 
executed  with  a  sort  of  red  chenille ;  to  the  borders  were  attached  groups  of  blue  pearls  and 
little  bells.     Strino-s  of  large  pearls  of  all  colors  were  passed  around  the  neck  and  crossed  on  the 

chest ;  bracelets  in  red  chenille  on  the  arms 
and  legs,  and  bangles  of  yellow  copper  on 
the  wrists  and  ankles  completed  their  cos- 
tume. The  king  of  these  mysterious  islands, 
who  came  out  to  greet  the  strangers,  was 
still  more  grotesquely  arrayed  :  his  principal 
garment  was  an  old  uniform  coat  of  some 
European  army,  ornamented  with  yellow 
woollen  epaulettes,  the  stripes  of  a  corporal 
and  buttons  bearing  in  relief  three  cannon 
crossed  and  the  motto,  Ubiq^ie.  An  old  Euro- 
pean hat  and  a  native  apron  around  his  hips 
completed  his  apparel.  As  the  emblem  of 
his  power,  temporal  and  spiritual,  he  carried 
a  bell,  which  he  tinkled  gravely  as  he  accom- 
panied the  travellers  in  their  voyage  around 
the  two  most  sacred  islands,  on  which  they 
were  not  permitted  to  set  foot.  These  islands 
were  simply  masses  of  tropical  verdure,  in- 
habited apparently  only  by  a  vast  number  of 
birds  of  all  kinds,  to  whom  the  king  made  rev- 
erence as  the  canoes  were  slowly  paddled  by. 
The  tribe  immediately  south  of  this  lake 
is  the  Galoi,  who  regard  these  islands  as  the 
sacred  places  of  their  religion.  In  ascending 
the  river  Ogowe  the  traveller  passes  success- 
ively the  countries  of  the  Bakalais,  the  Okota 
and  Yalimbongo,  the  Okandas  and,  still  far- 
ther inland,  near  the  head-waters  of  the 
stream,  the  Adouma,  the  Okota,  the  Obamba 
and  the  Adziana.  The  slave  trade  was  for- 
merly the  great  curse  of  all  this  region,  and 
is  not  yet  entirely  suppressed.  A  French 
traveller,  M.  Alfred  Marche,  who  explored, 
for  the  first  time,  the  course  of  the  river  in 
1875-77,  found  the  Obamba  gathering  slaves 
in  the  country  of  the  Adziana  and  selling 
them  to  the  Adouma,  by  whom  they  were  in 
turn  disposed  of  to  the  Okanda.  The  first 
sight  that  greeted  his  eyes  upon  his  arrival  among  the  latter  was  an  encampment  of  slaves, 
of  both  sexes  and  all  ages,  who  disappeared  on  his  approach.  This  commerce  is  universal.  In 
default  of  other  material  the  natives  do  not  hesitate  to  sell  their  own  families,  parents,  brothers 
and  sisters,  to  the  traders.  He  who  cannot  find  at  least  a  child  to  dispose  of  is  considered  to  be 
but  an  unenterprising  parent.  Vl.  Marche  says  of  these  savages  :  "One  would  never  imagine  the 
amount  of  time  that  the  women  of  this  country  devote  to  plastering  themselves  with  white,  yellow, 
red  and  even  with  black ;  they  paint  the  whole  of  the  body  with  a  vegetable  red  thinned  with  palm- 
oil,  and  the  most  greasy  and  most  shiny  of  them  is  the  greatest  belle.    I  saw  one  of  them  who 


Okanda  Woman  at  her  Toilette. 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


"5 


had  even  contrived  to  make  use  of  two  mirrors  in  conjunction,  so  arranged  as  to  form  a  sort  of 
cheval  glass,  to  dress  her  coiffure.  Never  would  I  have  thought  that  the  instincts  of  coquetry 
could  thus  render  a  negress  ingenious  enough  to  discover  the  laws  of  reflection.  They  also  waste 
a  good  deal  of  time  in  pulling  out  their  own  eyelashes  and  those  of  the  men,  using  for  this  pur- 
pose the  point  of  a  knife.  When  I  inquired  the  reason  for  this  proceeding  they  informed  me  that  it 
was  to  enable  them  to  see  more  clearly,  and  derided  me  because  I  did  not  do  the  same.  'The  hairs 
which  you  have  on  your  eyelids,'  they  said,  'must  get  in  your  eyes,  and  bother  you  greatly.'  " 


THE  northern  shores  of  the  Gulf  of  Guinea  are  occupied  by  regions  known  as  the  Ivor>'  Coast, 
the  Gold  Coast  and  the  Slave  Coast,  from  the  nature  of  the  principal  commodities  which 
they  formerly  furnished  to  European  commerce.     All  of  these  sections  are  unhealthy;  the  most 


The  Temple  of  Serpents  at  Whydah. 


ii6  AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 

fever- infested  is  the  Slave  Coast.  At  its  ports  of  Lagos  and  Whydah  the  slave-ships  formerly 
loaded  their  human  cargoes ;  and  here  flourished  and  grew  rich  the  potentates  of  this  infamous 
traffic.  Nowadays,  the  English  have  acquired  the  port  of  Lagos,  while  Whydah  has  to  depend 
upon  more  legitimate  traffic,  now  that  the  English  cruisers  and  the  almost  exhausted  demand 
have  compelled  the  once  famous  slave  barracoons — on  which  the  captain  of  the  war-ship  often 
cast  his  eyes,  in  former  days,  to  see  what  was  stirring — to  fall  into  decay.  Whydah,  now  a 
straggling  town  or  village  of  ruined  factories,  is  the  seaward  outlet  of  the  most  celebrated  of  all 
the  West  African  kingdoms,  the  dominion  of  the  Ffons,  or  Dahomey.  The  kingdom  itself  is 
rather  vaguely  bounded,  but  may  be  said  to  lie  between  the  river  Volta  on  the  west  and  Bagda- 
gany  on  the  east;  to  extend  northwards  to  the  Kong  Mountains,  in  lat.  8°  N. — the  whole 
country  over  which  His  Majesty  of  Dahomey  rules  being  about  four  thousand  square  miles,  of 
which  only  a  small  strip  lies  on  the  coast. 

The  kingdom  itself,  now  that  the  slave  trade  is  virtually  abolished,  is  unimportant,  yielding, 
with  the  exception  of  palm-oil,  almost  nothing  of  great  value  to  commerce.  But  the  people, 
and  especially  the  monarch,  have  long  been  notorious  for  the  practice  of  some  most  abominable 
"customs,"  in  regard  to  which  stories  more  or  less  exaggerated  have  been  circulated  ;  and  only 
recently  have  we  obtained  anything  like  an  accurate  account  of  this  extraordinary  race.  The 
capital,  however,  has  been  visited,  and  in  recent  times  by  several  travellers,  who  have  given  us 
narratives  of  their  observations.  Chief  among  these  must  be  enumerated  Commodore  Wilmot, 
in  1862 ;  Captain  Burton,  the  celebrated  traveller,  in  1865,  and,  more  recently,  an  English 
naturalist,  Mr.  J.  A.  Skertchley,  who  was  detained  for  nine  months  in  a  friendly  manner  by  the 
king,  avowedly  in  order  that  he  might  give  to  the  English  public  a  true  account  of  the  ways  of 
life  of  his  capital,  His  Majesty  complaining  that  he  had  been  grievously  misrepresented  in  that 
country.  A  surgeon  of  the  French  navy,  M.  le  Docteur  Repin,  also  visited  the  country  in  1S60, 
and  has  published  a  detailed  and  apparently  accurate  record  of  the  manners  and  customs  of  the 
kingdom. 

The  crumbling  ruins  of  a  fort,  the  last  vestige  of  the  power  of  the  French  Compagnie  des 
lades,  is  situated  in  the  western  part  of  the  port  of  Whydah;  but  the  most  famous  building  in 
the  place,  and  the  one  to  which  the  attention — if  not  the  steps — of  the  traveller  is  first  turned, 
is  the  serpent-house,  in  which  are  kept  the  sacred  fetish  serpents.  This  curious  edifice  consists 
simply  of  a  round  structure  with  a  conical  thatched  roof,  some  ten  or  twelve  yards  in  diameter 
and  seven  or  eight  in  height.  The  walls  are  of  dried  earth,  like  those  of  the  habitations,  and 
are  pierced  on  opposite  sides  by  two  doorways,  through  which  enter  and  issue  freely  the  ophidian 
divinities.  From  the  roof  depend  strings  of  cotton  yam,  and  on  the  floor,  which,  in  common 
with  the  walls,  is  whitewashed,  are  placed  several  pots  of  water.  The  serpents,  which  Mr. 
Skertchley  found  reduced  to  twenty-two  in  number,  at  the  time  of  Dr.  Repin' s  visit  counted 
more  than  a  hundred.  They  have  all  been  rendered  harmless  by  the  removal  of  their  fangs. 
Their  length,  according  to  the  latter,  varied  from  one  to  three  metres.  Their  spindle-shaped  bodies 
terminated  gradually  in  a  long  tail,  one-third  of  the  entire  length.  "Their  heads  are  large, 
flattened  and  triangular  with  the  corners  rounded  off,  and  sustained  by  a  neck  a  trifle  thinner 
than  the  body.  Their  color  varies  from  a  clear  yellow  to  a  greenish  yellow,  perhaps  according 
to  their  age.  The  greater  number  are  marked  on  the  back  with  two  brown  lines,  while  others 
are  irregularly  spotted.  These  difierent  characteristics  led  me  to  suppose  that  they  were  all 
members  of  different  species  of  those  non-venomous  reptiles  which  Linnaeus  classified  among 
the  pythons  and  adders.  .  .  .  Some  of  them  ascended  and  descended  the  tree-trunks  placed  for 
that  purpose  against  the  walls ;  others,  suspended  by  their  tails,  balanced  themselves  nonchalantly 
above  my  head,  darting  out  their  triple  tongues  and  looking  at  me  with  their  narrow  eyes;  others, 
rolled  up  asleep  under  the  rafters  of  the  roof,  were  occupied  in  digesting  the  last  offerings  of  the 
faithful.  Despite  the  fascinating  strangeness  of  the  sight,  and  the  complete  absence  of  danger, 
I  could  not  but  feel  ill  at  ease  in  the  midst  of  these  viscous  divinities,  and — like  one  waking 
from  a  very  bad  dream — I  could  not  suppress  a  sigh  of  satisfaction  on  emerging  into  the  open  air. " 

Every  one  of  these  reptiles  is  sacred,  and  when  one  is  encountered  by  the  negroes  straying 
from  its  habitation — which  frequently  occurs — it  is  approached  with  the  greatest  reverence, 
frequently  on  the  knees,  taken  up  in  the  arms  with  great  care  and  carried  back  to  the  temple 
with  many  apologies  on  the  part  of  the  worshipper  for  the  liberty  he  is  taking.     In  several 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


117 


instances  they  have  been  killed  by  Europeans  unaware  of  their  sacred  character,  and  it  has  been 
only  with  difficulty  that  the  lives  of  the  offenders  have  been  saved  from  the  wrath  of  the  offended 
priests  and  fanatical  people.  It  is  said  that  the  reason  the  snake  is  so  reverenced  in  Whydah 
is  because,  during  an  attack  on  Ardro,  it  appeared  to  the  army  and  so  inspired  it  with  courage 
that  the  victory  was  secured.  It  is  still  looked  upon  with  equal  veneration  notwithstanding  the 
fact  that  it  did  not  avail  to  protect  the  conquering  Dahomans,  into  whose  kingdom  Whydah  is 
now  incorporated.  It  is  said  that  )oung  women  who  are  ill  are  taken  to  the  snake  temple  to  be 
cured,  and  that  high  fees  are  exacted  for  this  service. 

Between  Whydah  and  Abomey,  the  capital  of  the  kingdom,  lie  two  provinces  that  were 
formerly  independent  kingdoms  under  the  names  of  Ardra  and  Whydah.  Since  their  union 
under  the  government  of  the  king  of  Dahomey  these  countries  have  lost  in  great  part  their 
original  characteristics.  Abomej^  is  situated  upon  a  level  plateau,  and  the  length  of  the  walls 
that  encircle  it  is  about  eight  miles.  These  walls  are  of  clay,  pierced  by  four  gates  according  to 
some  authorities,  and  six  according  to  others,  each  with  a  double  opening — one  for  the  exclusive 
passage  of  the  king  and  the  other  for  his  subjects.  The  ditch  is  from  four  to  six  yards  in  depth, 
and  the  walls  some  twenty  feet  in  height;  the  former  is  crossed  by  light  wooden  bridges,  easy  to 


Palace  of  the  King  of  Dahomey. 


destroy  in  case  of  danger.  The  population,  some  thirty  thousand,  is  not  in  proportion  to  the 
size  of  the  city;  the  houses  being  widely  spaced  and  in  some  cases  surrounded  by  small  farms. 
The  streets  are  large  and  tolerably  clean,  but  by  no  means  crowded ;  many  of  them  are  shaded 
by  magnificent  trees.  Near  the  middle  of  the  city  is  a  small  edifice,  the  round  roof  of  which  is 
sustained  by  a  wooden  colonnade.  This  is  the  building  in  which  the  human  sacrifices  formerly 
took  place.  In  the  same  locality  is  the  palace  of  the  king,  consisting  of  a  number  of  ordinary 
dwellings  separated  from  each  other  by  courts  and  gardens  and  which  serve  as  the  lodgings  of 
the  king's  female  soldiers,  of  his  wives  and  of  his  domestic  slaves.  These  buildings  are  con- 
structed of  clay  dried  in  the  sun,  and  roofed  with  bamboos,  which  extend  over  the  fronts  to  form 
verandas ;  one  of  them  only,  the  doorway  of  which  opens  on  the  principal  place,  boasts  of  a 
second  story.  This  is  the  ro>al  treasure-house.  The  walls  are  festooned  with  strings  of  cowries, 
hanging  from  the  eaves  to  the  ground,  an  ornamentation  which  is  found  nowhere  else.  The 
king  has  no  special  apartment  of  his  own;  he  lives  alternately  in  those  of  his  wives.  A  wall  of 
clay,  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  in  height,  surrounds  all  these  buildings,  pierced  with  several  gates, 
and  bristling  at  intervals  with  iron  hooks  from  which  are  suspended  human  heads;  some  of  them 
whitened  by  time,  some  with  morsels  of  flesh  still  adhering  to  them,  and  some  freshly  decapitated. 


iiS 


AFRICA  ILLUSTRATED. 


Enormous  piles  of  elephant  bones  are  heaped  up  in  front  of  the  doorways;  probably  as  trophies 
of  the  chase,  and  yet  which  seem  to  be  objects  of  superstitious  fear  to  the  natives. 

Tlie  Uahomans  are  for  the  most  part  tall,  well  formed  and  intelligent,  and  for  an  African  race, 
singularly  honest  and  far  advanced  in  agriculture.  With  the  exception  of  a  few  Mohammedans, 
who.se  religious  belief  is  in  no  way  interfered  with,  they  are  all  pagans  and  practise  fetish 
worship.  The  king  is  the  most  absolute  of  despots,  having  entire  control  over  the  lives  and 
properties  of  his  subjects.  Wholesale  murder  was  formerly  one  of  the  chief  features  in  religious 
and  state  ceremonies,  as  many  as  two  thousand  victims  being  sometimes  sacrificed  at  one  "grand 
custom,"  and  one  of  the  late  kings  immolated  seven  thousand  at  the  death  of  his  father.  Of  the 
regular  army  of  twelve  thousand  about  one-half  were  formerly  Amazons,  devoted  to  celibacy, 
who  are  described  as  more  effective  soldiers  than  their  male  companions  in  arms.  The  flower 
of  this  corps,  however,  perished  under  the  walls  of  Abeokeuta  in  1867,  and  their  number  at 
present  does  not  exceed  four  thousand,  divided  into  three  brigades,  distinguished  each  by  a 
peculiar  mode  of  dressing  the  hair. 

The  Gold  Coast  is  claimed  by  the  English,  whose  protectorate  extends  as  far  inland  as  the 
frontiers  of  A.shantee.  This  colony  is  under  a  governor  who  resides  at  Cape  Coast  Castle,  with 
an  administrator  at  Lagos.  Both  the  Danes  and  the  Dutch  formerly  possessed  stations  on  the 
Gold  Coast;  but  the  former  were  purchased  by  the  British  in  1850  and  the  latter  acquired  in  1872. 
The  population  of  the  country  around  the  great  fresh-water  lagoons  of  Cape  L,ahou  and  of  the 
Grand  Bassam  are  more  sociable  and  more  commercially  inclined  than  some  of  their  neighbors. 
Their  communications  with  the  interior  enable  them  to  procure  with  comparative  facility  the 
palm-oil  which  is  the  principal  object  of  the  treaties  made  between  them  and  the  Europeans. 
The  vessels  engaged  in  this  commerce  anchor  outside  the  bars  which  fringe  the  coast,  while  the 
negotiations  are  being  carried  on  through  the  native  intermediaries  with  the  tribes  of  the  interior 
— generally  on  the  northern  shore  of  the  lagoons,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  palm  groves.     A 


Harem  of  the  King  of  Dahomey. 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


119 


Young  Girls  of  the  Grand  Bassam. 


traveller,  disembarking  on  the  shore  of  the  Grand  Bassam  and  ascending  the  river  some  two 
miles  to  the  village,  records  his  surprise  at  the  aspect  of  the  place — "the  wide  streets  and 
public  places  planted  with  numerous  big-leaved  trees  that  afford  a  most  salutary  shade.  A 
numerous  population,  apparently  cheerful  and  contented,  thronged  to  see  me  on  my  arrival, 
without,  however,  manifesting  that  importunate  curiosity  with  which  the  African  traveller  is  so 
often  beset." 

Four  great  centres  of  population  are  situated  north  of  the  Grand  Bassam  :  Boudougou,  which 
is  the  chief  town  of  an  independent  state;  Kong,  Mosi  and  Selga,  all  three  of  them  commanding 
the  passes  of  the  mountains  which  serve  to  communicate  with  the  countries  watered  by  the  Niger. 
The  grand  entrepots  of  Adingra,  of  Coomassie  and  of  Baoure,  more  or  less  celebrated,  are  nearer 
the  coast.  The  great  river  of  North-western  Africa  is  the  Niger,  the  name  of  which,  according 
to  Barth,  is  a  contracted  form  of  one  of  the  native  names,  N-eghirreii,  which  means  simply  "the 
river."     The  principal  head-water  rises  on  the  slopes  of  Mount  Loma,  a  peak  of  the  Kong 


I20 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


Mountains,  in  a  barren,  desolate  and  treeless  region,  about  six  hundred  feet  above  sea-level.  It 
flows  north-east  to  Timbuktu,  where  it  bends  eastward,  and  after  flowing  in  that  direction  for  about 
two  hundred  and  fifty  miles,  it  curves  towards  the  south,  and  proceeds  in  a  general  south-south- 
east course  until,  arriving  at  the  head  of  its  delta,  in  latitude  about  5°  30'  N.,  it  separates  into 
many  branches  and  enters  the  Gulf  of  Guinea,  between  the  bights  of  Benin  and  Biafra.  It  is 
called  the  Timbri  for  the  first  seventy  miles  of  its  course,  after  which  it  receives  the  name  of  the 
Joliba,  or,  more  correctly,  Dhiidiba;  and  after  passing  Timbuktu  it  is  known  principally  as  the 
Quorra.  In  lat.  14°  10'  N.,  the  river  separates  into  two  branches;  the  western  is  called  the 
Joliba  or  Mayo,  the  eastern  the  Bara-Isa.  These,  as  they  proceed,  are  known  as  the  White  and 
Black  Rivers  respectively;  and  they  unite  after  inclosing  the  island  of  Jimballa,  two  hundred 
and  twenty  miles  in  length,  and  from  two  to  twenty  in  breadth.  The  river  again  bifurcates 
before  arriving  at  Timbuktu,  and  after  passing  that  town  the  two  branches— on  one  of  which, 
the  northern,  Cabra,  the  port  of  Timbuktu,  is  situated— again  unite.  In  the  district  of  union 
south-west  of  Timbuktu  the  country  far  and  wide  is  intersected  by  numberless  streams,  forming 
a  complicated  network  of  watercourses.  The  river  then  flows  east,  sending  off  many  creeks 
and  branches,  to  Bamba ;  at  Burrum  it  curves  to  the  south-east,  and  from  this  point- 
called  from  the  bend,  the  Knee  of  Burmm  —  W.  bears  the  name  Kwara  or  Quorra  until  it 
reaches  the  delta.  The  latter  consists  of  an  immense  mangrove  forest,  cut  up  into  islands 
by  the  numerous  branches— twent}--two  in  all— of  the  river.  The  principal  mouths  are  the 
Bonny,  Mari  and  Nun. 

The  famous  city  of  Timbuktu  occupies  a  position  of  the  highest  commercial  importance  on 
the  great  north-western  bend  of  the  Niger.  It  stands  only  a  few  feet  above  the  level  of  the 
river,  and  at  a  distance  of  about  six  miles  from  its  principal  branch.  It  is  triangular  in  shape, 
from  two  and  a  half  to  three  miles  in  circumference,  and  at  present  without  walls,  though  in 
former  times  it  covered  a  much  greater  area  and  was  defended  by  walls.     It  is  laid  out  mostly 


liy\fiis^ 


General  View  of  Timbuktu. 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED.  121 

in  straight,  but  partly  in  winding,  streets  of  hard  sand  and  gravel,  and  having  a  sort  of  gutter 
in  the  middle.  There  are  three  chief  squares,  about  a  thousand  clay  houses — some  low  and 
unseemly  and  others  rising  to  two  stories  and  exhibiting  architectural  adornment — and  about 
two  hundred  huts  of  matting.  In  the  north  of  the  city  is  the  mosque  of  Sankore,  an  edifice 
of  great  grandeur  and  which  imparts  an  imposing  character  to  the  whole  district  in  which  it 
stands.  The  other  chief  buildings  are  the  "Great  Mosque,"  an  immense  edifice  of  stately 
appearance,  and  a  few  smaller  ones.  The  climate  is  not  considered  very  healthy.  Timbuktu  is 
not  a  manufacturing  town,  almost  the  whole  life  of  the  city  being  based  upon  foreign  commerce. 
There  are  three  great  highways  for  this  commerce — down  the  river  from  the  south-west,  and  by 
two  roads  from  the  north,  from  Morocco  and  from  Ghadames  respectively.  Of  this  commerce, 
gold,  which  arrives  here  chiefly  in  the  form  of  rings,  is  the  staple ;  and  the  amoimt  which  the 
city  exports  is  set  down  at  about  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  yearly.  Salt  and  the  kolanut, 
which  is  used  in  the  place  of  coffee,  are  also  largely  imported  and  re-exported,  as  are  also  tobacco 
and  dates.  Rice  and  corn  are  brought  from  Sansanding.  English  manufactures  consisting  of 
red  cloth,  sashes,  looking-glasses,  cutlery  and  calico  arrive  from  the  north  and  north-west.  The 
fixed  population  of  the  town  is  only  about  thirteen  thousand,  but  during  the  trading  season — 
which  lasts  from  November  to  January,  when  the  numerous  caravans  come  from  Morocco  and 
Ghadames  to  meet  the  merchants  who  descend  from  the  Upper  Niger — this  number  is  increased 
by  from  five  to  ten  thousand. 


THE  navigator  who  descends  from  the  north  the  western  coast  of  Africa  need  not  expect  to 
find,  south  of  Morocco,  the  picturesque  landscapes,  the  grand  outlines  of  earth  and  sea, 
the  distant  glimpses  of  the  snowy  Atlas  Mountains,  which  he  has  contemplated  at  intervals 
between  Cape  Spartel  and  the  Bay  of  Agadir.  After  he  has  doubled  the  promontory  of  Nun, 
that  redoubtable  headland  of  the  ancient  navigators,  he  no  longer  sees  on  his  left  hand  anything 
but  a  ranw  of  high  and  naked  cliffs,  the  base  of  which  is  incessantly  washed  bv  the  surf  and 
the  crest  calcined  by  an  implacable  sun.  This  is  the  seaward  border  of  the  great  desert,  the 
rampart  which  it  opposes  to  the  waves  of  the  Atlantic.  Those  who  have  escaladed  this  wall  of 
the  Sahara — shipwrecked  mostly — have  been  able  to  see  from  the  top  nothing  but  a  smooth 
surface,  dreary  as  that  of  the  sea  in  a  dead  calm,  stretching  away  into  a  limitless  horizon, 
immense,  burning,  arid,  without  a  bush  or  a  blade  of  grass,  without  the  least  sustenance  for 
human  life.  In  the  neighborhood  of  Cape  Blanco,  this  wall,  some  seven  hundred  miles  in 
length,  gradually  sinks  down  into  a  chain  of  dunes,  and  these  growing  lower  and  lower  towards 
the  south,  finally  subside,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  sixteenth  degree  of  north  latitude,  into  a 
long  and  narrow  tongue  of  sand,  across  which  a  great  river,  issuing  from  the  true  tropical 
regions  of  Africa,  makes  its  way  to  the  Atlantic.  This  river  is  the  Senegal,  which  gives  to-day 
to  a  large  and  important  country  the  name  which  it  received  itself  from  a  barbarous  people,  the 
Z^n^ga,  established  along  the  right  bank  at  the  time  of  the  first  discovery  of  the  region  by  the 
Portuguese  Lancerote  or  Lancelot,  in  1447. 

It  has  been  supposed  that  this  river  was  visited  by  the  expedition  which,  six  or  eight  centuries 
before  the  Christian  era,  the  Carthagenian  Hanno  conducted  beyond  the  Pillars  of  Hercules. 
Some  geographers  have  endeavored  to  identify  it  with  the  Stachyris  of  Ptolemy.  The  Portuguese 
navigators  of  the  fifteenth  century,  however,  concerned  themselves  very  little  with  these  specu- 
lations ;  the  objects  which  they  sought  were  gold  and  slaves,  and — incidentally — the  conversion 
of  the  natives.  From  the  period  of  the  first  discovery  of  the  Senegal  up  to  the  middle  of  the 
sixteenth  century  the  Portuguese  were  the  only  Europeans  who  navigated  and  traded  in  these 
seas :  their  influence  is  testified  to  to  this  day  by  traces  of  their  language  in  certain  words  of  the 
native  idioms.  Their  heritage — when  they  became  exhausted  by  their  century  of  gigantic 
efforts — fell  to  the  French ;  laut  it  does  not  appear  that  the  eight  companies,  successively 
organized  in  that  nation,  between  1626  and  1758,  for  the  exploitation  of  the  trade  of  the  Senegal, 
were  actuated  by  any  larger  motives  than  those  of  the  Portuguese.  Their  establishments  in 
this  region  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  English  in  the  latter  year,  were  re-conquered  in  1777,  and 
again  lost  during  the  wars  of  the  First  Empire.  In  181 7  they  finally  returned  to  the  French, 
but  the  celebrated  wreck  of  the  frigate  La  Meduse^  which  was  carrying  out  the  officials  and  the 


122 


SiGNARE    AND    SLAVES    AT    THE    SEA-BaTHS,    SAINT-LOUIS. 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


12' 


troops  which  were  to  receive   them  from  the   hands  of  the  English,  was  long  regarded  as  a 
sinister  type  of  the  fate  reserved  for  the  French  power  in  these  latitndes. 

At  the  end  of  two  centuries  of  occupation,  indeed,  the  establishment  is  not  yet  a  veritable 
colony.  No  emigrants  are  attracted  by  the  fertility  of  the  country.  The  few  European  residents, 
some  hundred  at  the  most,  dwell  upon  a  sandy  island,  without  soil,  without  trees  or  herbage. 
They  are  not  proprietors  of  the  soil,  and  have  no  wish  to  be.  They  are  there  but  for  the  doubtful 
profits  of  a  commerce  that  does  not  prosper,  and  they  leave  the  spot  the  moment  their  means 
enable  them  to  do  so.  The  city  of  Saint-L,ouis  was  founded  by  the  original  French  companies, 
who  made  great  efforts  to  develop  its  commerce.  The  ancient  fort  of  Saiiit-Eouis,  which  is 
situated  on  the  island  of  the  same  name,  to-day  a  barracks  and  warehouse,  was  the  beginning 
of  the  town.  The  residence  of  the  governor,  which  has  been  erected  on  one  of  its  facades,  is  in 
urgent  need  of  repair.  The  streets  follow  as  closely  as  possible  the  shore,  and  were  formerly  so 
near  the  level  of  the  water  that  they  were  frequently  submerged.  Large  storehouses,  filled 
with  merchandise,  are  ranged  along  the  quays,  and  there  are  two  bridges  that  communicate  with 
the  adjoining  shores.  That  of  Guet-N'dar  is  permanent;  but  that  thrown  across  the  large  arm 
of  the  sea,  in  1865 — shown  in  the  illustration — is  supported  on  boats  and  serves  as  a  drawbridge. 
The  native  population  presents  specimens  of  most  of  the  types  that  inhabit  the  shores  of  the 
Senegal.    The  mixture  of  Europeans  and  natives  has  produced  a  race  of  mulattoes  that  carefully 


The  Bridge  of  Sor,  Saint-Louis. 


preserve  the  modes  of  life  of  their  fathers.  The  women  are  designated  by  the  Portuguese  name  of 
Signares  (Ladies),  and  cover  with  some  of  the  old  aristocratic  names  of  France,  "the  unrestrained 
luxury,  the  easy  morals,  the  profound  ignorance  and  the  dangerous  fascinations  of  these  Eves, 
black,  brown  and  yellow,  of  Africa  and  the  Orient."  The  traders  and  the  signares  formerly 
possessed  a  multitude  of  slaves,  who  were  emancipated  in  1848,  and  who  have  gone  to  swell  the 
ranks  of  the  martgoHers,  the  small  traders  who  traverse  in  their  boats  the  inland  rivers  to  barter 
with  the  natives. 

The  whole  of  the  region  lying  north  of  the  Gulf  of  Guinea,  including  Senegambia,  consists 
of  a  strip  of  flat  country  backed  by  mountains.  The  breadth  of  this  flat  strip  varies  from  about 
thirty  to  seventy  miles;  and  the  first  break  in  the  level  consists  of  ranges  of  hills  from  the  tops 
of  which  can  be  descried  the  rugged  and  densely  wooded  table  mountains  of  the  interior.  The 
shore  itself  is  almost  uniformly  low  and  flat,  the  principal  exception  being  the  rocky  peninsula 
of  Sierra  Leone,  which  owes  its  name — meaning  "lion's  ridge" — to  the  constant  roaring  of  the 
surf  which  beats  against  its  sides.  Where  the  coast  turns  southward  the  mountains — the  lofty 
Cameroon  Mountains  and  those  to  the  west  of  the  Fan  country — advance. nearer  to  the  shore, 
although  here  also,  at  the  mouths  of  the  rivers,  there  are  considerable  plains.  This  region  of 
Western  Africa  is  one  of  the  hottest  parts  of  the  globe,  and  one  of  the  most  unhealthy  for  Euro- 
peans; dangerous  even  for  natives  of  the  African  interior.  In  Senegambia  the  temperature  in 
the  shade  rises  to  97°  Fahr.,  and  in  some  parts  of  Guinea  to  102°.     On  all  this  coast  south-west 


124 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


I'oRT  Bakel,  Senegal  River. 


winds  prevail  the  whole  jear  round;  but  during  our  winter  months  they  are  feeble  and  often  local, 
and  occasionally  during  this  period  different  parts  of  the  coast  are  visited  by  a  violent  wind, 
called  the  hariuallan,  which  blows  from  the  interior  and  is  heavily  charged  with  choking  dust. 
During  our  summer  months  the  south-west  winds  blow  with  much  greater  strength  and  violence, 
and  discharge  immense  quantities  of  rain  accompanied  by  tremendous  thunder-storms. 

The  course  of  the  Senegal  was  explored  in  1863  by  a  French  na\al  officer,  M.  Mage,  who 
was  charged  with  the  mission  of  opening  up,  if  possible,  a  line  of  communication  between  the 
posts  on  the  upper  Senegal  and  those  on  the  upper  Niger,  especially  with  Bamakou,  which 
seemed  to  offer  the  most  promising  results.  The  object  of  the  expedition  was  to  determine  the 
feasibility  of  supplanting  by  this  route  the  commerce  of  Morocco  with  the  Soudan,  which  is 
forced  to  cross  the  entire  width  of  the  Sahara.  M.  Mage  left  Saint-Louis,  the  12th  of  October, 
on  a  small  gunboat.  La  Couleirjriiie,  with  a  part  of  his  stores,  the  remainder  having  preceded 
him  in  charge  of  his  laptots^  or  native  sailors.  On  the  igtli  he  arrived  at  the  fort  of  Bakel, 
where  he  purchased  the  only  available  horse,  and  received  his  last  instructions — "Depart  as 
quickly  as  possible  and  proceed  as  rapidly  as  3'ou  can  before  the  hot  season  arrives,  and  endeavor 
to  reach  the  Niger."  On  the  26th  he  left  Bakel  for  Medine,  the  last  French  station  on  the 
river,  and  where  alone  he  could  hope  to  organize  definitely  his  little  caravan.  On  the  loth  of 
January,  after  innumerable  fatigues,  he  abandoned  the  course  of  the  river  and  struck  off  east- 
ward, through  an  unknown  country,  towards  the  important  town  of  Sego,  on  the  Niger.  The 
region  he  traversed  had  never  before  been  visited  by  Europeans,  excepting  in  some  places  by 
Mungo  Park.  The  inhabitants  received  him  generally  with  great  curiosity,  but  hospitably,  and 
his  route  was  only  obstructed  by  the  innumerable  minor  inconveniences  that  always  attend  the 
march  of  explorers.  The  first  place  of  importance  at  which  he  halted  was  Diangounte,  formerly 
an  independent  kingdom,  but  then  tributary  to  Sego ;  the  Bambaras,  the  ancient  lords  of  the 
soil,  living  in  straw  huts  outside  the  walls  of  the  capital  city.  The  other  natives  were  mostly 
Soninkds.  The  population  of  the  large  village  of  Tidfougoula,  a  few  marches  farther  eastward, 
was  composed  entirely  of  these  people,  with  a  few  Peuhls  and  Moors ;  the  latter  being  merely 
salt  traders  passing  through  the  country.  The  former  were  distinguished  by  having  adopted 
what  might  be  designated  as  the  Bambara  blazon,  i.e.,  three  gashes  in  the  cheek,  from  the 
temple  to  the  chin ;  and  they  also  wore  the  boioque,  a  ring  of  gold,  of  copper,  or  even  of  wax. 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


125 


passed  through  the  cartilage  of  the  nose,  exactly  in  the  manner  of  that  used  in  civilized  countries 
for  cattle.  This  custom  seems  to  be  prevalent  throughout  Western  Soudan,  from  Timbuktu  to 
the  Kong  Mountains  and  the  basin  of  the  Senegal. 

At  Toumboula,  a  town  till  then  unmarked  on  any  map,  and  the  chief  place  of  the  little 
fertile  province  of  Laraba-lake,  the  route  of  the  expedition  changed  from  eastward  to  southward, 
heading  for  the  important  town  of  Yamina,  a  short  distance  above  Sego,  on  the  upper  Niger. 
At  his  first  view  of  this  river  M.  Mage  was  much  disappointed.  Instead  of  the  immense  stream 
which  Mungo  Park  had  described,  he  saw  only  a  current  of  some  six  hundred  yards'  width  flowing 
between  two  long  banks  of  sand.  It  was  not  till  later  that  he  reflected  that  Mungo  Park,  on 
both  his  visits,  had  seen  the  river  in  the  middle  of  winter,  when  it  is  swollen  by  the  rains  and 
when  it  attains  the  width  of  two  thousand  yards.  In  Yamina  the  travellers  were  received  with 
overwhelming  curiosity  by  the  populace,  Soninkes  and  Moors,  and  with  great  courtesy  by  one 
of  the  chiefs  of  the  town,  Simbara  Sacco,  the  aged  chief  of  all  the  Saccos,  a  clan  or  great  family 
among  the  Soninkes.  After  having  recovered  somewhat  from  his  fatigue  and  performed  some 
very  uecessar)-  ablutions,  the  explorer  proceeded  to  view  some  of  the  sights  of  the  town,  beginning 
with  the  markets  and  the  butcher-shops.  The  proprietors 
of  the  various  small  shops  ranged  around  a  large,  square, 
open  place,  sat  on  mats,  and  displayed  on  other  mats  in 
front  of  them,  or  suspended  by  hooks  on  the  walls,  the 
objects  of  their  commerce — salt,  glass  beads,  stuffs,  paper, 
sulphur,  flintlock  muskets,  rings  of  copper  or  silver 
for  the  ears,  the  nose,  the  fingers  or  the  toes,  collars 
and  girdles,  bands  for  the  forehead  ornamented  with 
small  pearls,  and  native  cotton  stuffs  woven,  from 
the  finest  to  the  coarsest.      In  one  corner  was  a  ,^ 

public  barber  who  wielded,  with  marvellous  adroit- 
ness, razors  brought  from  Sierra  Leone,  which  he 
had  softened  in  the  fire  to  sharpen.  He  even  shaved 
the  head  of  a  baby,  hung  on  its  mother's  back,  and, 
despite  its  piercing  cries  and  its  constant  move- 
ments, without  a  cut — and  without  anything  in  the 
shape  of  soap.  Farther  on  was  a  mender  of  cala- 
bashes; next  him  a  salt  merchant,  who  was  occupied 
in  breaking  up  methodically,  with  a  species  of  very 
small  adze,  his  merchandise,  which  he  then  ranged 
regularly  in  little  piles,  of  which  the  price  varied 
from  five  cowries  to  one  and  two  hundred. 

The  butcher-shops  were  not  the  least  curious 
part  of  the  market.     They  were  ranged  all  on  one 

side  of  the  square,  and  differed  from  the  others  in  their  arrangement  only  by  the  stakes,  furnished 
with  natural  hooks  on  which  the  meat  was  suspended,  and  by  the  furnaces  placed  either  under 
their  hangings  or  just  before,  and  on  which  the  flesh  was  being  grilled,  from  the  smallest  pieces 
up  to  the  largest.  These  furnaces  were  circular  in  shape  and  built  of  clay.  On  top  were  placed 
transverse  pieces  of  hard  wood,  which  served  as  gridirons  and  on  which  the  meat  cooked  with 
much  smoke.  Generally  the  ox  is  killed  before  the  shop,  in  the  middle  of  the  market-place. 
According  to  the  Mohammedan  custom,  the  legs  are  fettered  and  the  beast  thrown  down,  the 
head  facing  the  east.  A  marabout — who  receives  in  payment  a  portion  of  the  meat — then  cuts 
the  throat,  murmuring  an  invocation  or  simply  the  word  Bissimilahi.  Some  of  the  butchers 
afterwards  "blow"  the  beef  with  their  mouths ;  but  this  is  a  refinement  that  is  not  always  prac- 
tised, even  in  the  market,  and  scarcely  ever  elsewhere.  The  carcass  is  then  skinned  and  cut 
up.  The  blood  is  saved  with  much  care  in  calabashes.  That  which  escapes  is  conducted  by  a 
trench  into  a  hole,  where  is  sometimes  placed  an  earthenware  vessel  to  receive  it.  Nothing  is 
wasted  ;  not  the  intestines,  which  go  to  make  a  sort  of  black  pudding  in  which  no  blood  is  used 
but  pieces  of  tripe,  nor  the  spleen,  nor  the  lungs,  which  are  dried  in  the  sun  to  serve,  when  ver>' 
"high,"  as  seasoning  for  the  national  dish  of  lack-lallo.     The  blood  is  boiled  and  clotted,  and 


Young  Woman  of  the  Soninkes. 


126 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


sold  in  small  portions  to  be  used  either  as  seasoning  for  other  dishes  or  to  be  eaten  by  itself. 
The  liver  is  grilled  and  eaten  au  nature!.  These  portions,  which  are  sold  cooked,  are  those 
bought  by  the  poor.  In  the  villages  along  the  Senegal  no  one  will  eat  any  meat  that  has  not 
been  killed  either  on  his  own  place  or  that  of  his  relatives;  and  whoever  has  any  money  may 
eat  of  such  portions  as  his  means  allow. 

After  a  repose  of  two  or  three  days,  M.  Mage  set  out  again,  this  time  in  two  pirogues,  or 
native  boats,  to  descend  the  river  to  Sego.  He  was  much  disappointed  at  first  to  find  the  channel 
so  shallow  at  that  season  of  the  year— February— as  to  forbid  the  passage  of  the  lightest  draught 
steamer;  but  from  the  village  of  Mamauabougou,  a  short  distance  below  Yamina,  the  depth  was 
o-reat  enough  to  allow  barges  of  twenty  tons  to  pass  during  the  entire  year.  The  travellers 
found  Sego  to  differ  materially  from  the  description  given  by  Mungo  Park,  and  their  appearance 
excited  even  more  attention  from  the  crowd  than  it  had  done  in  Yamina.  The  banks  of  the  river 
in  front  of  the  town  presented  a  spectacle  of  animation  unlike  anything  they  had  seen  since 
leaving  Saint-Louis.  After  having  paid  their  respects  to  the  king  Ahmadou,  who  received  them 
civilly,  they  were  conducted  by  His  Majesty's  chief  oflficer  and  engineer.  Samba  N'diaye,  to  his 
own  house,  where  they  were  to  be  lodged.  This  they  found  to  consist  of  a  series  of  one-story 
dwellings  built  of  clay,  with  a  sort  of  scaffolding  of  hard  wood  and  a  terrace  on  top;  the  whole 
tolerably  well  constructed.  "The  doors,  excepting  those  of  entry,  were  no  more  than  a  metre 
sixtv  centimetres  in  height.  They  were  closed  by  panels  of  wood  composed  of  two  or  three  planks 
held  together  by  wooden  bars  and  iron  nails.  Iron  locks  that  had  come  from  Saint-Louis  had 
been  provided  for  them.  The  first  court,  into  which  we  entered  by  a  little  shed  serving  as  a 
doorway,  had  been  set  aside  for  our  use.  On  the  right  was  the  communication  with  the  dwelling 
or  court  of  the  women ;  on  the  left  a  long  shed  forming  a  gallery  the  whole  length  of  the  court- 
yard, that  is  to  say,  six  metres  long  by  two  metres  and  a  half  in  width.  This  shed  conducted 
to  our  particular  dwelling,  a  chamber  three  metres  in  length  by  four  in  width,  in  one  corner  of 
which  I  noticed  a  sort  of  chimney.  Two  beds  furnished  with  mats  of  millet  straw  had  been 
prepared  for  us.  A  second  low  doorway,  opening  out  of  the  chamber,  gave  access  to  another 
courtyard,  in  one  corner  of  which  opened  a  passage  covered  with  mats,.which  led  to  a  storehouse, 
or  millet  granary,  in  which  I  placed  our  merchandise.  My  men  installed  themselves  in  the 
court  and  luider  the  veranda,  and  for  greater  convenience  dislodged  Samba  N'diaye's  horse, 


The  Butcher-Shops  at  Yamina. 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


127 


The  House  of  Samba  N'diaye,  at  Sego. 


which  was  fastened  in  the  middle  of  the  court.  A  ladder  of  rough  wood,  composed  of  two 
twisted  sticks  to  which  the  rounds  were  fastened  by  thongs  of  iintanned  leather,  served  to  ascend 
to  the  terrace  on  top,  where  our  host  had  constructed  a  wooden  shelter,  covered  with  a  matting 
roof,  in  which  to  sleep  in  the  fresh  air  without  danger  from  the  humidit)-.  All  this,  though 
somewhat  rough,  showed  intelligence.  There  were,  in  the  iron  locks  to  the  doors  and  in 
certain  other  details,  reminiscences  of  that  which  Samba  N'diaye  had  observed  in  the  dwellings 
of  the  whites."- 

In  this  city  M.  Mage  was  detained  by  the  king  for  nearly  two  years,  and  it  was  not  until  after 
exhausting  all  the  resources  of  his  diplomacy,  backed  by  presents  and  further  instructions  from 
the  French  authorities  in  Senegal,  accompanying  Ahmadou  on  two  of  his  campaigns,  and  seeing 
the  army  of  one  of  his  allies.  El  Hadj,  totally  destroyed  by  the  powerful  tribe  of  the  Macina,  to 
the  eastward  of  Sego,  that  he  succeeded  in  procuring  permission  for  his  departure.  Previously, 
however,  he  negotiated  with  the  king  a  treaty  of  friendship,  securing  the  free  passage  through 
the  royal  territories  of  goods  and  travellers  ;  and  on  his  return  to  Saint-Louis,  May  28,  1866,  was 
gratified  to  learn  that  he  had  been  rewarded  with  the  grade  of  Officer  of  the  Legion  of  Honor. 

The  British  settlements  on  the  west  coast  of  Africa  are  tho.se  at  the  mouth  of  the  Gambia, 
those  on  the  Sierra  Leone  coast,  including  the  peninsula  of  Sierra  Leone  itself,  the  whole  of  the 
Gold  Coast,  and  the  coast  on  each  side  of  Lagos,  with  Lagos  itself  The  Gambia  and  Sierra 
Leone  settlements  form  together  the  West  African  settlements,  which  are  under  a  governor 
resident  at  Free  Town.  Sierra  Leone  consists  chiefly  of  a  peninsula,  about  twenty-five  miles 
long  from  north  to  south,  and  about  twelve  broad  ;  but  several  islets,  as  the  Isles  de  Loss  and 
the  Banana  Islands,  belong  to  it.  The  area  is  about  three  hundred  square  miles.  The  population 
includes  only  a  very  few  whites.  The  peninsula  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  Sierra  Leone 
River,  and  on  the  south  by  Calmont  Creek  and  Yanry  Bay.  Along  the  coast  stretches  a  belt  of 
rich,  low-lying  land,  and  elsewhere  in  the  colony  there  are  fertile  tracts ;  but  the  interior  is  a 
mass  of  rugged  mountains  with  a  generally  barren  soil.  The  climate  is  humid  and  unhealthy; 
the  wet  season,  lasting  from  May  to  November,  being  specially  pestilential.  Tropical  fruits 
and  plants  grow  luxuriantly  in  the  more  favorable  regions,  and  coffee,  sugar,  indigo  and  cotton 
have  been  introduced  by  the  English.  The  colony  is  divided  into  numerous  parishes,  ministered 
to  by  about  twenty  clergymen,  and  superintended  by  the  bishop  of  Sierra  Leone.     The  govern- 


128 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


ment  rests  in  tlie  liands  of  a  Crown-appointed  governor,  assisted  by  a  council,  of  a  ver}-  limited 
number  of  members. 

The  settlement  of  Sierra  Leone  was  established  in  1787,  when  four  luindred  and  seventy 
destitute  negroes  were  removed  to  it  from  London  by  a  body  of  philanthropists,  and  one 
thousand  one  hundred  and  ninety-six  negroes  were  sent  to  it  from  Nova  Scotia — the  climate  of 
which  had  proved  too  severe  for  them — in  1790.  The  population  was  also  increased  by  other 
bandsof  people  of  color;  and  after  the  abolition  of  the  slave  trade  in  1807,  the  slaves  captured  by 
British  cruisers  were  put  ashore  and  settled  here.  In  1820  the  settlement  contained  only  twelve 
thousand  inhabitants,  or  less  than  a  third  of  the  present  population.  Between  1830  and  1848 
thirty-five  thousand  captured  slaves  were  landed  here.  It  has  been  calculated  that,  taking  the 
sixty  thousand  in  all  that  were  released  during  these  eighteen  years  as  a  basis,  not  less  than  one 
hundred  and  forty  thousand  blacks  were  delivered  during  the  fift)'  years  in  which  the  slavers 
were  hunted  by  the  European  navies.  These  captives,  as  we  have  seen,  became  the  foundation 
of  the  colonv  of  Sierra  Leone;  but  the  extreme  mortality  that  prevailed  among  them  has  served 
to  diminish  ver\-  greatly  the  present  population.     The  charity  of  the  English  people  has  done  a 


%,  \ 


Women  of  the  Macina  Tribe. 


great  deal  for  these  unfortunates.  The  numerous  schools  and  churches  that  ornament  the  streets 
of  Free  Town  testify  to  the  zeal  and  the  power  of  the  religious  and  charitable  organizations  that 
have  interested  themselves  in  this  work.  All  religious  beliefs  are  tolerated  in  the  colony;  and 
its  trade  is  open  to  all  the  world. 

Free  Town,  the  capital,  is  situated  upon  a  little  bay,  formerly  known  as  the  ba\-  of  the 
French.  The  mountains  which  surround  it  have  been,  within  the  last  forty  years,  almost  entirely 
cleared  of  the  forests  which  formerly  clothed  them  from  base  to  summit.  The  white  walls  of 
the  town  offer  a  striking  contrast  to  the  sombre  color  of  the  huts  of  the  freed  slaves  and  of  the 
Kroomen,  who  come  to  Sierra  Leone  to  seek  service  on  the  coasting  vessels.  "As  soon  as  the 
anchor  is  dropped,  a  fleet  of  small  boats,"  says  a  traveller,  "swarm  around  the  steamer,  awaiting 
with  impatience  the  moment  when  the  commissioner  of  quarantine  shall  have  completed  his 
examination  of  the  captain.  It  is  truly  curious  to  see  the  imperturbability  with  which  this 
commissioner  fulfils  his  functions,  and  it  seems  to  be  a  purely  superfluous  operation,  for  the 
germs  of  the  most  virulent  character  develop  themselves  spontaneously  in  the  climate  of  this 
African  metropolis.     Situated  at  the  limit  of  the  trade-winds,  the  climate  is  subject  to  periodical 


AFRICA  ILLUSTRATED. 


129 


calms  preceding  aud  following  the  changes  of  the  winds  which  alternate  in  these  latitudes  and 
give  birth  to  the  most  terrible  epidemics.  Scarcely  is  the  signal  of  free  entry  hoisted  on  shore 
than  this  hybrid  population  precipitates  itself  on  board  like  a  torrent.  You  need  not  be  surprised 
if,  descending  into  your  state-room,  you  find  a  fat  negress  comfortably  installed  there.  It  is  only 
the  washerwoman,  come  to  offer  you  her  services. ' ' 

The  land  on  which  the  freed  slaves  are  established  was  ceded  to  the  African  Company  by  the 
Timanies,  whose  country,  small  in  extent,  is  bounded  on  the  north  and  the  east  by  the  Kouranko 
and  the  Soulimana,  and  is  divided  among  four  chiefs.  The  principal  towns  are  Rokon  and 
Maboury,  of  which  the  population  does  not  exceed  two  or  three  thousand  souls.  All  inheritance 
is  collateral  among  them;  the  nation  is  prepossessing,  and  the  women  are  pretty  and  amiable.  In 
the  villages  of  the  interior  the  boys  go  naked  to  the  waist ;  a  light  stuff  around  the  hips  is  tied 
behind.  The  girls  are  quite  nude  up  to  seven  or  eight  years  of  age,  when  they  put  on  a  light 
floating  scarf  around  their  hips,  which  they  tighten  when  they  marry.  The  women  were  formerly 
often  obliged  to  go  uncovered  from  the  impossibility  of  procuring  sufficient  covering  for  them- 
selves.    The  married  men  wear  cotton  drawers  and  a  hat. 

The  "Grain  Coast" — so  called  not  from  the  presence  of  any  kind  of  cereal,  but  because  it  is 
the  region  whence  are  exported  cardamoms,  or  grains  of  paradise — extends  from  Sherboro  to 
Cape  Palmas.  It  is  inhabited  by  three  or  four  tribes  which  differ  but  little  from  each  other. 
These  are  the  Weys,  the  Deys  and  the  Golas,  the  Menas,  or,  as  they  are  more  commonly  called, 
the  Kroomen,  and  the  Grebos.  The  traits  which  these  peoples  possess  in  common  are  the  facility 
with  which  they  enter  into  communication  with  Europeans  and  their  willingness  to  serve  as 
sailors  in  the  white  man's  ships.  On  board  every  vessel  navigating  the  sea  which  washes  the 
west  coast  of  Africa,  specimens  of  this  race  may  be  found.  They  are  the  seamen,  canoe-men 
and  porters  of  the  Coast ;  the  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water  for  the  languid  seamen,  and 
about  the  only  West  African  race  which  is  at  once  able  and  willing  to  work,  either  for  the  white 
man  or  for  itself  They  are  said  to  have  originally  come  from  the  far  interior,  into  which  they 
stretch  for  some  distance.  Whether  this  is  so  or  not — and  there  is  great  probability  that,  like 
many  of  the  Coast  tribes,  they  have  originally  pushed  their  way  from  the  east — a  number  of  small 
tribes  have  now  merged  into  them,  and  in  course  of  time,  owing  to  their  habit  of  taking  ser\-ice 
on  board  the  ships  navigating  the  Coast,  they  have  become  partially  civilized.  They  are  excellent 
boatmen,  and  navigate  through  the  wild  surf,  which  lines  the  West  African  coast  like  a  wall, 
their  long,  narrow  canoes  with  a  skill  which  excites  the  admiration  of  all  who  have  ever  seen  it. 
Their  general  appearance  has  been  graphically  described  by  Captain  Burton.  "Conceive,"  he 
says,  "the  head  of  a  Socrates  or  a  Silenus  upon  the  body  of  the  Antinous  or  the  Apollo  Belvedere. 


Free  Town,  the  Capital  of  Sierra  Leone. 


I30 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


A  Krooman  Village. 


A  more  magnificent  development  of  muscle,  such  perfect  symmetry  in  the  balance  of  grace  and 
strength,  my  eyes  have  never  yet  looked  upon.  But  the  faces !  Except  when  lighted  up  by 
smiles  and  good  humor — expression  to  an  African  face  is  all  in  all  —  nothing  could  be  more 
unprepossessing.  The  flat  nose,  the  high  cheek-bones,  the  yellow  ej'es,  the  chalky  white  teeth, 
pointed  like  the  shark's,  the  muzzle  protruding  like  that  of  a  dog-monkey,  combine  to  form  an 
unusual  amount  of  ugliness.  To  this  may  be  added  the  tribe-mark — a  blue  line  of  cuts,  half  an 
inch  broad,  from  the  forehead  scalp  to  the  nose-tip,  in  some  cases  extending  over  both  lips  to 
the  chin,  whence  they  are  called  'blue  noses;'  whilst  a  broad  arrow  or  wedge,  pointed  to  the 
face,  and  also  blue,  occupies  each  temple  just  above  the  zygomata.  The  marks  are  made  with  a 
knife  ;  little  cuts  into  which  the  oily  husk  of  a  gum  is  rubbed.  Their  bodies  are  similarly  orna- 
mented with  stars  and  other  European  emblems,  especially  with  broad  double  lines  down  the 
breast  and  other  parts." 

They  work  hard  and  live  sparingly,  so  as  to  be  able,  when  they  are  discharged,  to  go  home, 
purchase  a  wife  or  two,  and  live  like  "Jack  ashore"  for  a  time,  until  their  money  is  all  spent, 
when  they  again  ship  in  the  first  vessel  that  requires  their  ser\-ices.  Hence  the\-  say  of  them- 
selves that  they  are  "nigger  for  ship,  king  for  country."  On  board  the  English  men-of-war 
they  usually  ship  for  a  term  of  three  years.  Longer  than  this  period  they  do  not  usually  care  to 
serve,  as  at  the  expiration  of  that  time  their  longing  for  "me  country"  has  become  so  strong 
that  tliey  nmst  once  again  taste  the  delights  of  shore  life. 

The  Grebos,  or  Greboe,  are  a  branch  of  the  Krooman  stock,  somewhat  taller  and  more  slender, 
in  general.  Their  tribe  is  divided  into  a  dozen  families,  each  one  under  the  authority  of  the 
most  aged  man.  Theirs  is  a  common  treasun,-,  replenished  by  the  earnings  of  the  younger  men 
who  serve  as  sailors  on  the  European  vessels.  Polygamy  is  universal  among  all  these  tribes. 
Tlie  influence  of  a  man  is  proportioned  to  the  number  of  matrimonial  alliances  which  he  can 
make ;  and  a  large  number  of  fathers-in-law  contributes  greatly  to  his  social  standing.     ]\Iore- 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


131 


over,  the  domestic  economy,  they  claim,  requires  more  than  one  worker ;  a  single  wife  would  be 
overwhelmed  with  the  duties  of  her  household.  "When  there  are  only  two  of  them,"  explained 
one  of  these  husbands,  "they  are  always  disputing;  hence  we  are  obliged  to  get  another  to  furnish 
a  counter- weight.  Then  they  range  themselves  two  against  one,  and  the  equilibrium  is  not 
re-established  till  we  furnish  a  fourth.  The  number  four  symbolizes  the  harmony  perfect."  It 
is  the  opinion  of  more  disinterested  witnesses,  however,  that  the  four  wives  do  not  long  delay  to 
set. themselves  in  pitched  battle,  two  against  two;  for  the  African  woman  is  generally  of  a 
combative  disposition.  The  houses  of  the  Grebos  and  Kroomen  are  large,  well  ventilated  and 
surrounded  with  little  enclosures  and  plantations ;  they  are  quadrangular  in  form  and  show 
some  evidences  of  architectural  skill.  This 
is  generally  true  as  far  south  as  the  Gaboon. 
On  the  Gold  Coast  the  walls  of  the  houses  are 
ornamented  with  various  designs. 

One  of  the  institutions  of  the  Ivory  Coast 
— on  the  river  Gle,  or  Baoule,  or  Baoure — is 
an  establishment  of  fetish  women.  The 
French  Vice- Admiral  Fleuriot  de  Langle  says 
that  he  was  informed  by  his  Krooman  chief 
that  the  fetish  queen  applies  to  her  legs  a  sort 
of  cautery,  which  induces  a  species  of  artificial 
elephantiasis,  and  that  the  adventurous  native 
who  desires  a  talisman  against  all  dangers 
applies  to  her  for  an  infallible  one,  which  she 
furnishes  from  the  issue  of  her  swollen  limbs. 
The  establishment  of  which  she  is  chief  is 
named  Bojtlingbe.  It  is  inhabited  by  women 
vowed  to  celibacy,  and  who  live  in  couples 
in  separate  huts.  The  male  sex  is  strictly 
forbidden  to  enter  these  precincts,  which  are 
surrounded  by  high  tapades.  The  tapade  is 
a  screen  of  straw,  supported  by  stakes  driven 
into  the  ground,  and  at  least  six  feet  in  height. 
Each  head  of  family  surrounds  her  dwelling 
with  this  screen,  and  the  fear  of  the  fetish 
amulets  combines  with  the  law  and  custom 
to  keep  these  precincts  inviolable.  As  the 
numbers  of  these  nuns  have  to  be  perpetuated, 
however,  the  inference  is  strong  that  the  law 
is  not  always  observed.  The  girls  that  are 
born  in  this  community  are  educated  with 
care  for  their  future  profession;  but  the  boys 
are  sacrificed  to  this  African  Moloch.  The 
mountains  of  the  Grebo  country  abound  in 
sacred  grottoes;  one  of  them  being  celebrated 
in  all  the  neighboring  districts  for  its  efficacy 
in  giving  fruitfulness  to  wives. 

The  natives,  for  the  most  part,  have  little  religion  of  an}-  kind.  By  long  contact  with  the 
whites  many  of  them  have  learned  to  give  up  their  old  superstitions,  and  the}-  have  adopted 
little  in  their  place.  A  good  deal  of  the  old  religion,  common  to  all  West  Africa,  still  remains, 
however,  in  the  inland  districts.  Fetishes  are,  of  course,  an  institution ;  and  demons,  or  evil 
spirits,  to  whom  offerings  of  beads,  tobacco  and  rum  are  made,  are  regarded  with  great  awe. 
The  Kroomen  will  not  eat  the  hearts  of  animals,  nor  drink  their  blood.  Though  a  great  liar  in 
the  ordinary'  walks  of  life,  yet  on  high  occasions  he  considers  his  word  binding  if  fortified  by  an 
oath  in  the  following  manner :  He  dips  one  of  his  fingers  in  salt,  points  first  to  the  sky,  then  to 
the  earth — as  if  invoking  both  heavenly  and  terrestrial  powers  to  witness  the  vow — and  finally 


A  Fetish  Woman. 


,32  AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 

puts  tlie  tip  of  the  finger  in  his  mouth.  This  oath  is  looked  upon  as  one  of  great  sanctity,  and 
is  not  usually  broken  —  unless  under  circumstances  of  great  temptation.  After  a  Krooman 
dies,  a  fire  is  kept  up  beside  his  house  and  food  is  placed  beside  his  grave ;  both  the  fire  and 
the  food  being  intended  for  the  use  of  the  spirit  either  before  or  while  it  is  journeying  to  the  land 
of  the  hereafter.  Cattle  are  also  sacrificed  at  his  funeral;  for  he  will  take  rank  in  the  land  of 
spirits  in  e.\act  proportion  to  the  amount  of  property  with  which  he  enters  it.  How  otherwise 
is  his  former  condition  in  Krooman's  land  to  be  known?  Sometimes  he  will  return  to  earth — 
his  soul  having  entered  into  a  little  child.  This  is  only,  however,  if  he  has  been  a  good  man. 
If  a  bad  one — a  wizard  practising  the  black  art  illegally,  for  example — he  is  doomed  to  wander 
through  dismal  swamps  and  drear\-  wastes  for  an  indefinite  period.  No  man,  however,  enters 
directly  into  the  land  of  spirits ;  there  is  a  transitionary  purgatory  through  which  he  must  pass. 
This  is  Kwiga  Oran,  or  the  City  of  Ghosts.  In  it  the  best  of  men  must  pass  a  certain  time 
before  the  gates  of  the  Krooman  paradise  open  to  him. 

This  belief  in  the  transmigration  of  souls  is  common  to  many  African  tribes.  The  Ashantees, 
for  example,  say  that  "Kra,"  or  the  soul  of  man,  existed  before  the  body,  and  is  transmitted 
from  one  man  to  another,  so  that  the  soul  which  left  the  body  of  an  old  man  may  have  entered 
that  of  the  child  just  bora.  The  priest  will  augur  in  regard  to  the  destiny  of  the  babe  yet 
unborn,  by  asking  its  future  Kra  as  to  its  fortune  in  life.  The  soul  is  even  distinct  from  the 
body,  and  can  give  advice — either  good  or  bad — according  to  its  sex  (for  there  are  male  and 
female  Kras),  to  the  body  which  it  inhabits.  Evil  spirits  and  ghosts  are  what  the  West  Africans 
mostly  fear ;  and  to  avert  their  displeasure,  resort  is  had  to  charms  and  fetishes,  which  may  be 
anything,  from  a  human  sacrifice  to  a  pot  of  filth  compounded  by  the  fetish  priest.  At  the 
entrance  to  towns,  dwellings  and  all  places  of  public  resort  are  fetishes  to  avert  evil ;  and  the 
pathway  of  the  English  army,  in  the  Ashantee  war,  all  the  way  to  Coomassie,  the  capital,  was 
strewn  and  littered  with  fetishes  to  avert  calamity  from  the  nation  and  to  prevent  the  sacred  city 
being  reached  by  the  invaders. 


THE  prevailing  characteristic  of  the  surface  of  Africa  is  the  extent  of  its  plateaux.  These 
cover  much  more  than  three-fourths  of  the  entire  surface,  and  though  they  vary  greatly  in 
elevation,  often  present  vast  areas  of  nearly  uniform  level.  The  lowlands  are  found  chiefly  in 
the  west  and  north  of  the  Sahara  and  in  narrow  strips  on  the  coast;  and  the  mountain  chains  are 
comparatively  insignificant.  The  latter  seldom  rise  to  any  great  height  above  the  surrounding 
plateaux,  and  in  one  case  only — the  range  behind  the  Zanzibar  coast,  including  Mounts  Kenia 
and  Kilimanjaro — do  they  attain  an  absolute  elevation  exceeding  that  of  the  Alps.  Even  the 
Sahara,  the  great  rainless  desert  of  northern  Africa,  is  now  known  to  resemble  in  its  superficial 
features  the  continent  as  a  whole.  Formerly,  this  region  was  conceived  as  an  undeviating  sandy 
plain  dotted  over  here  and  there  with  speck-like  oases ;  but  recent  explorations  have  shown  it  to 
consist  mainly  of  plateaux,  surmounted  in  some  places  by  isolated  summits  and  traversed  in 
others  by  mountain  chains,  while  its  surface  exhibits  great  diversity  in  other  respects  beside 
that  of  elevation.  As  to  its  physical  geography,  it  has  been  subdivided  into  the  following 
districts:  r.  The  Hants  Plateaux,  or  Steppes,  a  series  of  high  levels  skirting  the  base  of  the 
Atlas  Mountains.  2.  The  land  of  the  Dayats,  or  waterless  oases,  stretching  south  to  the  high- 
lands on  the  south  bank  of  the  Wed  Mzi,  or  Djidi.  3.  The  region  of  the  southern  oases,  to  the 
south  of  the  former,  and  extending  south  till  it  loses  itself  in  the  desert.  The  principal  feature 
of  the  Sahara  is  the  Wed  Mzi,  which  rises  in  the  Djebel  Amour,  and  after  an  east,  north-east 
and  finally  south-east  course,  falls  into  the  Chott  Melr'  hir.  Throughout  almost  the  whole  of  its 
course,  which  is  about  four  hundred  miles  long,  it  flows  under  ground.  Its  waters  seem  to  rest 
on  a  bed  of  hard  limestone,  from  thirty  to  sixty  feet  below  the  surface. 

The  Libyan  Desert,  though  it  contains  a  series  of  depressions  below  sea-level  running  east 
and  west,  yet  lies  in  great  part  at  a  considerable  height  above  sea-level.  From  the  depressions 
just  mentioned  it  rises  very  gradually,  to  the  eye  imperceptibly,  towards  the  south,  and  in  the 
oasis  of  Kufra,  in  about  lat.  25°  N.,  attains  an  elevation  of  about  thirteen  hundred  feet.  The 
most  extensive  areas  below  a  thousand  feet  in  height  lie  in  the  west,  to  the  south  of  Morocco, 
and  in  the  north,  between  southern  Algeria  and  the  Nile.     In  the  north-west  of  Timbuktu  a 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


133 


large  area  known  as  El  Jouf  (the  body  of  the  desert),  an  area  partly  occupied  by  sand-downs 
and  partly  covered  with  saline  incrustations,  is  suspected  to  be  below  sea-level.  This  has  not 
yet,  however,  been  definitely  ascertained,  and — besides  the  depressions  in  the  Libyan  Desert 
already  mentioned — the  chotts^  or  shotts,  of  Tunis  and  Algeria  extending  westward  from  the 
Lesser  Syrtis,  are  the  only  areas  belonging  to  the  Sahara  actually  known  to  be  below  the  level 
of  the  sea. 

With  regard  to  the  diversity  exhibited  by  the  surface  of  the  Sahara,  apart  from  mere  differ- 
ences of  elevation,  it  may  be  said  that  the  desert  is  very  far  from 
being  composed  entirely  of  sand.  In  the  highest  elevations  of 
the  Sahara  the  sandy  tracts  are  comparatively  limited  in  extent. 
But  the  region  is  in  most  parts  none  the  less  desolate  on  that 
account.  Enormous  areas  consist  either  of  hammada  or  serir ; 
the  former  being  tracts  in  which  the  surface  consists  entirely  of 
rocks  or  sharp-edged  stones;  the  latter,  those  in  which  the  surface 
is  entirely  covered  with  pebbles.  Both  are  perfectly  destitute  of 
vegetation.  The  principal  sandy  areas  form  a  girdle  around  this 
central  triangle,  but  a  girdle  which  is  far  from  being  continuous. 
Even  in  the  Libyan  Desert,  where,  if  anywhere,  real  sand  oceans 
— according  to  Gerhard  Rohlfs,  the  explorer  most  intimately 
acquainted  with  this  part  of  the  desert — are  to  be  found,  such 
tracts  are  considerably  less  extensive  than  the  vast  expanses  of 
serir,  or  pebbly  wastes,  while  in  the  west  and  north  of  the  Sahara 
the  sands  are  far  surpassed  in  extent  by  the  hammadas. 

The  habitable  spots  within  the  area  of  the  desert  are  known 
as  oases,  or  wadies,  and  these  spots  owe  their  existence  to  various 
conditions.      They  cannot  exist  except  where  water  is  present 
and  the  surface  of  the  ground  fit  for  vegetation,  but  sometimes 
this  combination  is  furnished  by  nature,  and  sometimes  it  can 
be  brought  about  by  artificial  means — as  we  have  already  seen. 
In  the  former  case,  the  water  is  supplied  either  by  superficial  or 
subterranean  streams.    Oases  of  the  first  kind  are  the  most  luxu- 
riant of  all,  but  they  are  found  only  on  the  slopes  of  the  great 
mountain  ranges,   especially  on  the  south  slopes  of  the  Atlas. 
The  number  and  extent  of  oases  in  the  Sahara  have  been  found 
by  recent  travellers  to  be  much  greater  than  was  formerly  sup- 
posed.    Even  in  the  dreary  Libyan  Desert  Rohlfs  was  surprised 
at  the  diversity  of  surface  which  he  found  to  exist,   and   the 
number  of  oases  that  he  visited  or  otherwise  learned  the  existence 
of     Between  about  24°  and  26°  N.  and  21°  and  22,%°  E.  in  this 
desert  there  are  a  whole  group  of  oases,  the  cultivable  area  of 
which  has  been  estimated  at  nearly  seven  thousand  square  miles, 
or  considerably  greater  than  the  kingdom  of  Saxony  and  not 
very  far  short  of  that  of  Wales.      The  date  palm,   the  special 
characteristic  of  the  oases  of  the  Sahara,  has  its  home,  according 
to     Rohlfs,     in 
these    fertile 
spots      of      the 
Libyan  Desert, 
the  only  places 
in    which    it    is 
still  to  be  seen 
in  a  wild  state. 
But  throughout 
the    Sahara    it 
now  forms  the 


r-^x^x 


Date  Palm  in  uasis. 


'34 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


NicHT  IN  THE  Desert. 


principal  means  of  subsistence.      There  are  numerous  salt  lagoons  in  the  northern  part  of 
the  Sahara. 

The  climate  of  Africa  is  mainly  influenced  by  the  fact  that,  except  the  countries  on  the  north 
and  south  coasts,  it  lies  almost  entirely  within  the  tropics.  It  is  the  only  continent  that  extends 
unbroken  frcn  the  northern  to  the  southern  tropic,  and  is,  consequently,  the  hottest  of  all.  In 
the  belt  immediately  under  the  equator,  both  north  and  south,  extending  for  about  ten  degrees 
each  way,  rain  is  abundant,  and  remains  standing  in  pools  for  months.  To  the  north  and  south 
of  this  equatorial  belt  the  rainfall  diminishes  -till  we  come  to  the  rainless  regions  of  the  Sahara, 
as  well  as  the  Nile  valley  on  the  north  and  to  the  Kalihari  Desert  in  the  south,  extending  beyond 
the  tropics  and  bordering  on  the  agricultural  and  pastoral  countries  of  the  north  and  south  coasts, 
which  lie  entirely  in  the  temperate  zones.  The  whole  region  of  Sahara  is  not,  however,  abso- 
lutely rainless.  Regular,  though  very  deficient,  rains  fall  both  on  the  western  strip  contiguous 
to  the  Atlantic,  and  on  the  south,  within  an  arc  of  a  circle  whose  highest  point  is  about  19°  N. 
and  6°  E.     This  area  is  said  to  be  steadily  increasing. 

The  winds  and  rains  in  Africa  are  chiefly  produced  h\  the  successive  exposure  of  the  various 
intertropical  belts  to  the  vertical  rays  of  the  sun.  The  monsoons  of  the  Indian  Ocean  exercise 
the  principal  modifying  influence.  From  March  to  September  the  south-west  monsoon  blows 
from  Africa  to  Asia,  and  during  the  remaining  months  the  north-east  monsoon  blows  towards 
the  African  coasts.  The  chief  cause  of  the  rainlessness  of  the  desert  is  the  direction  of  the 
winds.  In  the  Sahara  the  prevailing  winds  are  more  or  less  easterly,  which  is  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  uniformity  of  level,  which  generally  characterizes  large  areas  of  the  desert,  admits  of  the 
trade-winds  blowing  over  its  surface  with  almost  the  same  regularity  as  over  the  ocean.  And 
these  winds  have  in  both  cases  the  same  rainless  character.  Coming  from  the  dry  regions  of 
Central  Asia  they  have  not  nnich  moisture  to  begin  with,  and  owing  to  the  direction  in  which 
they  blow  they  are  always  moving  farther  and  farther  from  the  point  of  saturation,  and,  con- 
sequently, even  the  mountains  which  they  meet  wirii  in  their  course  over  the  desert  are  not 
sufficient  to  produce  local  condensation.  In  the  Kalihari,  again,  the  prevailing  winds  are  from 
the  south  and  south-west,  which  is  due  to  the  influence  of  the  cold  current  that  ascends  along 
the  west  coast  of  Africa.  There  is  an  almost  constant  indraught  of  cold  air  from  above  this 
current  towards  the  heated  and  rarefied  atmosphere  of  the  Kalihari,  and  as  this  current  also,  like 
that  which  blows  over  vSahara,  is  charged  with  little  moisture  and  at  the  same  time  moves  farther 
and  farther  from  the  point  of  saturation,  it  lets  fall  no  rain  over  the  inland  region  towards  which 
it  blows.  And  even  when  the  influence  of  the  south-east  trade-wind  is  felt  in  this  area,  no  rain 
is  received  in  consequence,  for  that  wind  has  previously  been  drained  of  its  moisture  by  the 
mountains  of  the  Cape  region.     The  absence  of  rain  is,  however,  to  some  extent  compensated  by 


liBKl 


i  ::■'-;: 


is  J 


ft*'' 


''-Fill 

If    1- 
ft!;!:' 

v'l,!iii'- 


i;6 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


the  deposition  of  dew.  The  rapid  radiation  of  heat  in  the  desert  causes  a  ver}-  great  fall  of 
temperature  after  the  sun  is  down,  so  that  sometimes  frosts  are  generated,  and  a  fall  of  dew  is 
the  consequence.  Another  characteristic  of  the  desert  regions  is  the  generation  at  times  of 
scorching  winds,  those  of  northern  Africa — which  blow  from  the  south  and  are  called  in  different 
localities  ^r/^// or  XV/^wj/'//— afflicting  Egypt  and  the  countries  on  the  IMediterranean  coast.  Fez- 
zan,  on  the  contrary,  enjoys  periodic  rains  from  the  moist  winds  of  the  IMediterranean,  which 
extend  farther  into  the  continent  here  than  elsewhere. 

The  average  breadth  of  the  Sahara,  from  north  to  south,  is  about  a  thousand  miles.  Its  length, 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  western  edge  of  the  valley  of  the  Nile,  is  two  thousand.  The  caravans 
which  carrv-  on  the  commerce  of  the  desert  frequently  consist  of  from  five  hundred  to  two  thou- 
sand camels,  with  their  attendants.  The  easiest  route  southward  to  Soudan  runs  from  Tripoli 
through  the  kingdom  of  Fezzan  to  Lake  Chad.  Some  of  the  larger  oases  support  thousands  of 
inhabitants— independent  tribes  of  Moors,  Berbers  and  Arabs — living  in  villages. 

The  Nubian  deserts  are  those  of  Korosko  and  Bahiuda,  or  Bayudah.  The  natives  of  this 
region  and  the  Soudan  divide  their  deserts  into  two  classes,  eljebel.,  the  mountain,  and  cl  barriyeh, 
the  wilderness.  The  Arabs  give  the  name  of  the  atmoor  to  the  utterly  barren  kind  of  desert. 
"This  is  trulv  the  ideal  desert,  consisting  mainly  of  hard  gravel  plains  diversified  by  zones  of 
deep  sand,  rocky  ridges,  sometimes  of  considerable  altitude,  and  rugged  defiles.  It  is  absolutely 
destitute  of  all  vegetation,  and,  consequenth-,  of  animal  life.  Only  the  ostrich  and  hyena  cross 
it  swiftly  by  night,  and  the  vulture  hovers  over  the  caravans  by  day.  Not  a  tree,  not  a  bush, 
not  a  blade  of  grass  relieves  the  glare  of  the  sunlight  upon  the  yellow  sand.  No  one  can  resist 
the  solemn  impression  of  deep  silence  and  infinite  space  produced  by  the  desert.  When  night  has 
come,  and  the  soldiers  and  Bedouins  are  asleep  in  their  bivouacs,  walk  away  under  the  unequalled 
African  moon  beyond  the  first  ridge  of  sand  or  rocks.  Around  you  stretches  a  boundless  sea-like 
horizon.  The  sand  gleams  almost  as  white  as  snow.  Not  a  sound  falls  upon  the  ear,  not  the 
murmur  of  a  breeze,  not  the  rustle  of  leaf  or  grass,  not  the  hum  of  the  smallest  insect.  Silence 
— only  silence — as  profound  as  death,  unless  it  is  broken  by  the  howl  of  a  prowling  hyena  or  the 
distant  roar  of  the  king  of  beasts." 

The  desert  of  Korosko  is  crossed  by  the  caravans  which  avoid  the  detour  made  by  the  great 
westerly  bend  of  the  Nile  by  leaving  the  river  at  Korosko — between  the  first  and  second  cataracts 
— one  of  the  chief  towns  of  Nubia.  The  peculiar  formations  of  this  desert  come  up  to  the  banks 
of  the  river ;  an  aggregation  of  mountains,  constructed  in  horizontal  layers  and  issuing  from 
the  sand  in  a  wilderness  of  conical  peaks,  intersected  by  a  labyrinth  of  tortuous  defiles.  A 
French  traveller  describes  the  effect  of  the  sinking  sun  upon  these  peaks,  at  the  end  of  his  first 


f  f1»  ^T    A   * 


Mirage  in  the  Desert — Mountains  of  Limestone. 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


m 


Protecting  the  Crops. 


day's  journey  in  the  desert:  "The  summits  of  these  crests  and  cones  were  all  distinguished  one 
from  the  other  by  slightly  varying  tints.  Some  shaded  themselves  in  rose,  in  blue ;  others  in 
green,  in  gray,  etc.,  and  mingled  with  others  of  which  the  golden  sand-covered  tops  pointed 
upwards.  These  accidental  tints  were  more  or  less  merged  in  the  vapory  hues  of  the  sky,  and 
produced  the  most  charming  effect.  All  this  scene  was  crowned  with  the  resplendent  vault  of 
the  sky,  in  which  gleamed  the  last  rays  of  the  sun. 

"I  remained  a  long  time  on  the  summit,  enjoying  all  the  gradual  transitions  of  this  excep- 
tional scene  of  nature,  and  I  witnessed  one  of  the  most  magnificent  sunset  effects  that  it  is  possible 
to  imagine.  The  great  luminary,  whose  burning  ardor  during  the  day  we  had  so  cursed,  tipped 
all  these  desolate  peaks  with  tints  so  soft,  so  beautiful,  that  I  could  not  take  myself  away,  and  I 
was  tempted  to  repent  of  my  first  appreciation  of  a  country  in  which  the  charms  of  the  evening 
furnished  so  fair  a  compensation  for  the  fatigues  of  the  day." 

Even  the  desert  has  its  beautiful  aspects,  and  another  of  them  is  the  well-known  mirage, 
which,  however,  mocks  the  traveller  while  it  enchants  his  eye.  The  reflection  of  the  rays  of 
light  from  the  denser  layer  of  air  above  him  projects  on  the  sandy  plain  before  him  pools  of  still 
water,  palm  trees,  hillsides,  fertile  spots  that  quicken  his  already  burning  thirst.  Sometimes 
they  are  mountain  peaks  of  dazzling  whiteness,  as  if  of  marble  or  limestone.  Often  they  appear, 
several  at  a  time,  in  all  points  of  the  horizon. 

The  fertility  of  the  oases  is  often  in  sudden  and  sharp  contrast  with  the  desolation  that 
surrounds  them.  The  fertile  soil  yields  an  abundant  harvest  to  the  scanty  tilling.  In  some  of 
the  districts  bordering  on  the  Nubian  Desert,  however,  this  harvest  is  disputed  with  its  legitimate 
owner  by  innumerable  birds  and  tnonkeys.  The  latter  are  so  many  and  so  enterprising  that  the 
most  active  watchfulness  will  not  always  prevent  their  depredations ;  even  the  houses  are  not 
exempt  from  their  predatory  incursions.     If  the  householder  turn  his  back  to  his  door  without 


138 


AFRICA  ILLUSTRATED. 


fastening  it,  or  go  oflF  to  a  little  distance,  the  monkeys  embrace  the  opportunity  to  slip  inside 
and  lay  their  paws  on  whatever  strikes  their  fancy.  Provisions,  even  if  hidden,  are  almost 
certainly  discovered  and  carried  off.  If  they  are  surprised  in  the  midst  of  their  larcenies  they 
conceal  themselves  behind  any  available  object  and  watch  their  chance  to  escape  with  a  mar\-ellous 
quickness,  even  between  the  legs  of  the  astonished  owner.  The  multitude  of  birds  is  no  less  a 
constant  danger  to  the  growing  crops.  In  order  to  preserve  them  for  himself  as  they  approach 
mattiritv,  the  husbandman  is  obliged  to  have  recourse  to  a  somewhat  singular  method.  In  the 
middle  of  his  field  he  sets  up  on  two  or  three  uprights  a  perch  high  enough  to  enable  him  to 
overlook  the  space  to  be  i^rotected.  To  this  he  mounts  by  rough  steps  or  projections  on  the 
uprights,  and  overhead  he  constructs  of  branches  a  shelter  from  the  burning  heat  of  the  sun. 
From  the  level  of  this  little  platform  long  cords  radiate  out  to  the  confines  of  the  field,  where 
they  are  attached  to  high  stakes  or  to  convenient  trees.  To  them  are  fastened  various  fluttering 
and  glittering  objects,  calculated,  when  agitated,  to  scare  the  birds,  and  the  watchman,  sitting 
in  this  perch  like  a  spider  in  the  midst  of  his  web,  keeps  these  cords  in  agitation  one  after 
another,  from  morning  to  night,  in  order  to  keep  at  a  distance  the  feathered  thieves.  Without 
this  precaution,  it  is  said,  it  would  be  impossible  to  secure  the  crops ;  and  even  with  it,  a 
considerable  portion  of  the  harvest  is  often  carried  away. 

The  wide  stretches  of  the  desert  afford  admirable  facilities  for  coursing  in  some  localities;  and 
this  method  of  hunting  was  formerly  much  in  favor  with  the  Arabs,  as  it  was  with  the  Persians. 
The  game  is  usualh-  antelopes,  or  gazelles;  sometimes  hares  and  partridges  or  other  small  birds. 
These  are  hunted  with  both  hawks  and  hounds ;  the  former  carried  on  the  fist,  and  the  latter 
held  in  leash  by  an  attendant  until  the  proper  moment  arrives  to  slip  them.  The  antelope  is 
one  of  the  fleetest  of  quadrupeds,  and  the  rapidity  of  the  first  burst  of  the  chase  is  described 
as  astonishing. 

The  curse  of  Africa  is  the  slave  trade,  and  despite  the  efforts  of  the  civilized  nations  to  check 
it,  it  has  flourished  for  three  centuries  and,  so  late  as  the  commencement  of  the  year  1889, 
signalized  its  vigor  by  a  fresh  outbreak,  in  which  it  secured  tangible  successes  by  the  establish- 
ment of  a  great  slave  mart  close  to  Bagamoyo,  and  the  attack  on  the  Dares-Sakem  station,  both 
on  the  coast  of  Zanzibar.  In  the  latter,  not  only  were  a  hundred  captured  natives  sold  into 
slaver}',  but  some  of  the  missionaries  themselves.  Nearly  the  whole  continent  is  scored  over 
by  the  tracks  of  the  Arab  slave  dealers,  who  penetrate  far  into  the  interior  in  search  of  slaves 
and  ivory,  and  who  have  even  depopulated  entire  districts  in  the  interior  with  fire  and  sword. 
The  magnitude  of  this  evil  has  induced  Germany,  within  the  last  few  years,  to  present  to  the 


Relay  of  Hunting-Dogs  in  the  Desert. 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


139 


great  powers  of  Europe  a  plan  for  cooperation  in  its  suppression.     England,  France  and  Portugal 

have  resjjonded,  and  Cardinal  Lavigerie  took  upon  himself,  in  behalf  of  the  Pope,  to  induce  the 

other  nations  to  join  in  the  combined  movement.     It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  United  States 

has,  as  yet,  taken 

no  action  in  this 

cause,     although 

previous    to    the 

Civil  War,  Amer- 
ican   war-vessels 

cooperated    with 

those     of    Great 

Britain     in     the 

suppression     of 

the    slave    trade 

between  the  west 

coast    of    Africa 

and  America. 
The    demand 

for  slaves  in  the 

Mohammedan 

countries  neces- 
sarily requires  a 

supply,   and   this 

traffic  has  long 
been  the  most 
lucrative  carried 
on     in    Africa. 

The  attempt  to 
destroy  this  traf- 
fic, by  dealing 
with  the  supply 
alone,  has  proved 
to  be  very  inef- 
fective. In  three 
centuries,  accord- 
ing to  a  careful 
French  writer, 
more  than  fifty 
millions  of  slaves 
have  been  stolen 
from  Africa.  The 
principal  coun- 
tries to  which 
they  are  taken 
from  East  Africa 
are  Turkey, 
Egypt,  Persia, 
Tunis,  Morocco 
and  Madagascar. 
The  rulers  of 
each  of  these 
countries     have 

at  separate  times  declared  their  intention  of  suppressing  the  traffic  within  their  respective 
dominions;  yet  it  continues.  The  real  reason  of  its  existence  is  the  indifference  of  the  European 
powers.     It  is  said  that  the  second  generation  of  negroes  is  rarely  found  in  Turkey,  and  that  the 


I40 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


The  Slave  March — the  Abandoned  Mother. 


third  is  never  seen.  Hence  the  demand  for  fresh  victims  creates  an  ever-flowing  stream  from 
Africa.  Dnring  1888  the  whole  coast  of  Zanzibar  was  blockaded  by  the  united  fleets  of  England, 
Germany,  France  and  Portugal ;  and  the  English  cruisers  in  the  Red  Sea  have  long  been  the 
terror  of  the  Arab  slave  dliows,  hundreds  of  which  they  have  captured,  and  released  the  victims 
confined  in  their  holds.  During  the  latter  part  of  this  year  the  Arabs  actually  prepared  a  monster 
petition  to  the  European  powers,  complaining  of  the  damage  done  to  their  "business"  by  the 
Zanzibar  blockade;  and  their  outbreak  against  the  German  settlements  in  that  state  brought  that 
colon)-  to  the  verge  of  ruin. 

Tiie  Arab  dealers  proceed  in  these  inland  expeditions  by  a  mixture  of  treachery  and  force. 
Very  often  they  combine  with  one  tribe  against  another;  or  they  suddenly  turn  on  the  one  with 
which  they  have  been  living  in  apparent  amity  for  several  months.  In  either  case,  their 
fire-arms  and  superior  discipline  give  them  an  easy  victory.  The  natives  are  generally  taken  by 
surprise,  are  shot  down  without  mercy;  the  survivors,  mostly  women  and  children,  secured,  and 
the  long  march  to  the  coast  then  begun.  The  captives  are  usually  secured  by  an  adjustment 
called  a  shcba,  made  of  a  forked  pole;  the  neck  of  the  prisoner  fitted  into  the  fork,  secured  by 
a  cro.ss-piece  lashed  behind,  while  the  wrists  brought  together  in  front  of  the  body  are  tied  to 
the  pole.  Sometimes,  when  nearer  the  coast,  they  are  merely  chained  together.  The  children 
are  sometimes  attached  by  a  rope  around  their  necks  to  their  mothers,  or  trusted  to  follow  them 
unbound,  from  natural  instinct.  To  the  tortures  of  thirst,  hunger  and  fatigue,  are  added,  on  the 
march,  that  overwhelming  homesickness  wliich  is  one  of  the  negro's  most  characteristic 
qualities,  and  which,  combined  with  more  material  ills,  serves  to  break  him  down  in  spirit  and 
in  body.  The  old  and  feeble  that  fail  by  the  way  are  either  butchered,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
or  left  to  a  more  lingering  death  in  the  desert.  Pitiful  tales  have  been  told  by  explorers  of  the 
anguish  of  the  mothers,  thus  left  behind,  at  seeing  their  children  carried  off"  before  their  eyes, 
and  of  the  despair  of  the  children  thus  torn  away  from  their  dying  parents. 

Tlie    Kalahari    is  a  vast  central    and   uearlv  uninhabited    tract  of  countrv  Ivinsr   between 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


141 


Damara  Land  and  Great  Namaqua  Land  on  the  west  and  the  South  African  Republic — the 
Transvaal — and  the  Orange  Free  State  on  the  east,  and  extending  from  the  northern  bank  of  the 
Orange  or  Gariep  River  to  the  latitude  of  21°  S.,  or  the  verge  of  the  Nganii  region,  a  distance 
of  about  six  hundred  miles,  with  an  average  breadth  of  about  three  hundred  and  fifty.  As  the 
map  of  Africa  is  now  divided  up  among  the  "claims"  of  the  great  European  powers,  this  district 
is  assigned  to  Great  Britain,  along  with  Cape  Colon)-,  Natal  and  Zulu  Land.  It  presents  some 
curious  physical  features  quite  distinct  from  other  desert  regions  of  the  globe.  It  is  a  nearly 
waterless,  sandy,  but  in  many  places  well-wooded  region,,  on  which  rain  seldom  falls,  intersected 
by  dr}'  water-courses,  with  a  substratum  of  a  tufaceous  limestone,  and,  to  all  appearances, 
formerly  the  bed  of  an  immense  lake.  Livingstone  considered  it  remarkable  for  little  water  and 
considerable  vegetation,  and  therefore  very  different  from  the  karroos  of  the  Cape  Colony,  which 
have  neither  water  nor  verdure,  except  after  heavy  rains,  and  from  the  bare  and  sandy  deserts  of 


The  HoMBORi  Mountains. 


North  Africa  and  Arabia.  No  mountains  or  elevations  of  any  considerable  height  are  found  in 
the  Kalahari,  the  general  level  of  which  may  be  considered  as  about  three  thousand  feet  above 
the  sea.  The  few  springs  or  "sucking-places,"  which  here  and  there  are  found,  are  generally 
carefully  concealed  by  the  Bakillhari,  a  miserable  wandering  race  of  the  Betjouana,  or  Bechuana 
Bushmen,  who  roam  through  the  desert  in  quest  of  skins  of  which  they  make  the  fur  robes 
called  carosses.  After  heavy  rains,  herds  of  elephants,  rhinoceroses  and  giraffes  are  found  in  the 
dense  thickets,  and  feed  on  the  succulent  wild  melons  called  kcngwe,  which  then  abound  there. 
In  the  northern  parts  are  immense  forests  of  thorn  trees. 

The  Bechuanas  are  generally  of  a  peaceful,  not  to  say  cowardly,  disposition  and  are  divided 
into  many  tribes  under  the  government  of  chiefs,  who  exercise  a  kind  of  patriarchal  authority 
over  them.  According  to  Dr.  Livingstone,  the  different  tribes  take  their  names  from  certain 
animals,  "showing  probably  that  in  former  rimes  they  were  addicted  to  animal  worship.     The 


14: 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


term  Bakatla  means  'they  of  the  monkey;'  Bakuena,  'they  of  the  allij^ator ;'  Batlapi,  'they  of 
the  fish  ;'  each  tribe  having  a  superstitious  dread  of  the  animal  after  which  it  is  called.  They 
also  use  the  word  'bina,'  to  dance,  in  reference  to  the  custom  of  thus  naming  themselves,  so 
that,  when  you  wish  to  ascertain  what  tribe  they  belong  to,  you  say,  'What  do  you  dance?'  It 
would  seem  as  if  that  had  been  part  of  the  worship  of  old."  Many  tribes  formerly  existing  are 
now  extinct,  as  is  evident  from  names  that  have  now  no  living  representatives.  The  Bechuaua 
have  a  vague  notion  of  a  Supreme  Being,  but  no  intelligent  idea  of  his  attributes.  Livingstone 
describes  the  tribe  to  which  he  attached  himself — the  Bakuena,  or  Bakwains,  who  are  favorable 
specimens  of  tlie  nation — as  generally  slow  "in  coming  to  a  decision  on  religious  subjects;  but 
in  questions  affecting  their  worldly  affairs,  they  are  keenly  alive  to  their  own  interests."  In 
agricultural  matters  they  are  very  acute,  exhibiting  a  surprising  knowledge  of  the  properties  of 
the  soil,  as  well  as  of  the  nature  and  habits  of  animals.  In  their  superstitious  reverence  for 
their  ' '  rain  doctors, ' '  and  in  their  inability  to  construct  any  but  circular  huts,  they  show  their 
affinity  with  a  great  many  other  African  tribes. 


A  LARGE  part  of  the  interior  of  Africa  is  still  very  imperfectly  known  ;  but  at  no  period  has 
its  exploration  been  carried  on  with  so  much  vigor  by  many  civilized  nations  as  it  is  at 
present.  In  1876  an  international  association  for  the  exploration  of  the  interior  of  the  continent 
was  founded,  under  the  presidency  of  the  king  of  the  Belgians ;  and  various  expeditions  have 
been  sent  out  by  this  association  to  operate  both  from  the  east  and  the  west  coasts.  The  intention 
is  to  establish  a  number  of  stations  in  the  interior  to  serve  as  bases  for  further  operations.  One 
of  these  stations  has  been  established  on  the  east  side,  on  ground  bought  for  the  purpose,  on  the 
east  shore  of  Lake  Tanganyika,  in  about  lat.  7°  S. ;  and  another  at  Tabora,  on  ground  purchased 
from  Arab  settlers,  in  the  land  of  the  Unvamwezi.     And  others  have  been  established  on  the 


NiAM-NiAM  Hamlet. 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED.  143 

Congo,  on  the  west  side.  On  this  latter  side  the  operations  were  under  the  direction  of  H.  M. 
Stanley,  who  founded  his  first  station  at  Vivi,  at  the  foot  of  the  Yellala  Falls,  at  which  point 
there  is  now  a  large  trade  carried  on  by  means  of  steamers  plying  between  this  station  and  the 
mouth  of  the  river.  In  the  same  quarter  French  stations  have  been  founded  by  Savorgnan  de 
Brazza ;  one  at  Nghimi,  near  the  water-shed  between  the  Ogowe  and  the  Congo,  and  another 
upon  the  Congo  itself,  at  Meuma,  or  Ntamo,  not  far  from  Stanley  Pool.  On  the  east  side  a 
German  station  has  been  founded  at  Kakoma,  in  Uganda,  between  Unjamwezi  and  Lake 
Tanganyika.  The  African  Lakes  Company  was  formed  in  1878,  with  the  object  of  opening 
up  and  developing  the  regions  of  East  Central  Africa,  from  the  Zambesi  to  Tanganyika.  It  has 
established  twelve  trading  stations,  manned  by  twenty-five  Europeans  and  many  native  agents. 
It  has  started  a  flourishing  coffee  plantation  in  the  interior;  and  it  has  a  steamer  on  Lake  Nyassa, 
and  another  on  the  river  Shire. 

The  numerous  mission  stations  in  the  interior  are  also  of  some  importance,  not  only  for  the 
immediate  object  for  which  they  were  founded,  the  Christianization  of  the  natives,  but  also  as 
bases  of  operation  for  the  further  exploration  of  the  interior.  Among  the  principal  of  these  are  : 
one  founded  by  the  Church  Missionary  Society  in  the  kingdom  of  Uganda,  on  the  north-west  of 
Lake  Victoria  N'yanza,  at  the  capital  of  King  Mtesa,  whom  Stanley  claimed  to  have  converted 
to  Christianity ;  a  station  belonging  to  the  same  society  at  Mpwapwa,  about  a  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  west  of  Bagamoyo,  on  the  Zanzibar  coast ;  and  another  founded  in  January,  18S1,  at 
Mamboia,  about  forty  miles  east  of  Mpwapwa;  a  station  founded  at  Urambo,  in  Unyamwesi, 
south  of  the  same  lake,  by  the  London  Missionary  Society;  another  founded  by  the  same  society 
at  Ujiji,  on  the  eastern  shore  of  Lake  Tanganyika ;  and  a  third  at  Uguha,  north  of  the  Lukuga, 
on  the  western  shore  of  the  same  lake ;  several  stations  on  the  lower  Congo,  founded  by  what  is 
called  the  Livingstone  Inland  ]\Iission  ;  a  station  named  Livingstone,  in  honor  of  the  celebrated 
Scotch  missionary  and  explorer,  founded  on  Lake  Nyassa  by  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland,  in 
1875;  and  a  station  called  Blantyre,  after  the  Scotch  village  that  was  his  home  in  boyhood, 
founded  by  the  Church  of  Scotland,  between  the  Shire  and  Lake  Shirwa.  A  whole  series  of 
stations  now  exist  between  Lakes  Nyassa  and  Tanganyika;  and  it  is  proposed  to  connect  the  two 
lakes  by  a  road.  The  Victoria  N'yanza  Mission  has  introduced  a  steamer  on  that  lake  ;  but  the 
hostility  shown  by  the  natives,  and  even  by  King  Mtesa  himself,  interferes  seriously  with  the 
work  of  the  mission.  All  these  mentioned  are  Protestant  missions ;  but  the  Church  of  Rome 
has  also  entered  the  field.  In  1879  missionaries,  despatched  by  the  archbishop  of  Algiers,  founded 
a  station  at  Urundi,  on  the  north-west  shore  of  Lake  Tanganyika;  and  in  the  same  year  a  Jesuit 
mission  started  for  the  Victoria  Falls,  on  the  Zambesi. 

Amongst  the  earliest  of  the  modern  explorers,  to  whom  we  owe  our  knowledge  of  the  interior, 
is  that  Dr.  Heinrich  Barth  already  mentioned.  Both  his  companions,  Mr.  Richardson  and  Dr. 
Overweg,  succumbed  to  the  climate;  but  Barth,  undismayed,  continued  his  explorations  four 
years  longer.  When  he  retirrned  to  Tripoli,  in  September,  1855,  the  field  of  his  explorations 
extended  over  twenty-four  degrees  of  latitude  and  twenty  of  longitude;  from  Tripoli  in  the  north 
to  Adamawa  in  the  south,  and  from  Bagirmi  in  the  east  to  Timbuktu  in  the  west;  upwards  of 
twelve  thousand  miles.  His  researches  are  among  the  most  extensive  ever  undertaken  in  Africa. 
It  was  on  his  return  to  Timbuktu,  in  1855,  from  Kuka  on  Lake  Chad,  that  he  discovered  the 
very  remarkable  range  of  mountains — south  of  the  latter  city — figured  in  the  illustration,  the 
first  interruption  to  the  general  monotony  of  the  landscape.  "The  5th  of  August,"  he  says, 
"the  route  becoming  more  and  more  marshy,  we  first  perceived  some  detached  cones  appearing  on 
the  horizon  to  the  north.  No  inhabitants  were  to  be  seen  but  some  Foullanes,  watching  over  their 
flocks.  There  was  but  little  culture  visible.  Then  came  the  picturesque  constructions  of  the 
Sonray  villages ;  and,  finally,  the  curious  silhouette  of  the  chain  of  the  Hombori  Mountains. 
Without  having  seen  them  it  would  have  been  impossible  for  me  to  have  imagined  this  rampart, 
of  which  the  highest  peaks  were  not  over  eight  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  plain.  At 
first  there  was  nothing  particularly  striking  in  their  aspect,  so  that,  from  a  distance,  I  took  them 
for  mere  hills ;  but  very  soon  my  attention  was  very  forcibly  drawn  towards  them.  From  the 
summit  of  a  gentle  slope,  composed  of  the  debris  of  the  rock,  rises  a  perpendicular  wall,  the  top 
of  which,  crowned  by  a  terrace,  is  inhabited  b}-  the  natives,  whom  no  one  has  been  able  to  subdue. 
Some  sheep  and  some  growing  millet,  however,  seemed  to  show  that  these  proud  mountaineers 


,^4  AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 

sometimes  descended  from  their  loftv  retreats.  From  this  point  a  double  series  of  fantastic  crests 
rose  along  the  edge  .of  the  plain,  resembling  the  ruins  of  mediEeval  castles."  Farther  south  in 
this  region  the  surface  is  more  diversified. 

In  the  west  of  the  Soudan  the  principal  tribes  are  the  Man- 
dingoes,  Bambarras  and  the  Fonlbehs,  or  Fellatahs;  the  former 
two  inhabiting  the  upper  parts  of  the  Niger  basin,  and  the  last, 
the  region  enclosed  by  the  great  northern  bend  of  that  river — 
a  region  which,  however,  is  very  little 
known.  The  Foulbehs  also  hold  in  sub- 
jection the  Songhay,  or  Sonray,  to  the 
east  of  their  own  territory,  and  likewise 
form  the  dominant  race  in  the  states  lying 
to  the  south-east — Gwandu,  Sokoto  and 
Adamawa — where  the  majority  of  the 
inhabitants  consist  of  Haussas  in  the 
west  and  Battas  in  Adamawa.  Both  of 
these  tribes  are  very  intelligent  and  in- 
dustrious ;  but  neither  of  them  seems  to 
be  endowed  with  much  political  abilit}-. 
The  Battas  are  finely  formed  and  have  a 
skin  of  a  yellowish  red  color.  The  Haus- 
sas are  much  darker,  almost  black.  In 
disposition,  the  latter  are  sociable  and 
lively ;  and  their  language,  the  richest 
and  most  harmonious  of  all  those  of  Mid- 
dle Soudan,  is  spoken  as  far  north  as 
Agades,  and  almost  as  far  as  Benin,  in 
the  south.  The  inhabitants  of  Bornu 
are  mainly  Kanouris;  but  in  addition  to 
these,  there  are  numerous  members  of  a 
nomadic  Arab  tribe  called  the  Shua.  The 
Kanouris  are  remarkably  tall  and  strong- 
ly built,  but  in  features  are  extremely 
ugly.  In  character  they  are  described  as 
good-humored,  timid  and  indolent.  But 
for  all  that,  the  State  of  Bornu  is  the  most 
highly  organized  of  all  those  of  the  Sou- 
dan. Their  language  appears  to  have 
some  affinity  to  that  of  the  Tibboos,  in  the 
Eastern  Sahara.  The  people  of  Waday 
are  said  by  Dr.  Nachtigal  to  be  remark- 
ably barbarous,  and  their  land  extremely 
poor. 

Of  the  Niam-Niam,  lying  south  of 
Waday  and  west  of  the  White  Nile,  much 
-'  of  our  information  has  been  derived  from 
Dr.  George  Schweinfurth,  who  explored 
these  regions  of  Central  Africa  from  1868 
to  1 87 1.  When  first  seen,  their  wild 
and  warlike  air,  he  says,  impressed  him 
greatly.  "With  their  black  poodle  crops 
of  hair,  and  the  eccentric  tufts  and  pigtails  on  their  heads,  they  afforded  a  spectacle  which  to 
me  was  infinitely  novel  and  surprising.  Amongst  the  hundreds  of  Bongo  and  Mittoo,  with  whom 
the  Dinka  were  associated  as  drovers,  these  creatures  stood  out  like  beings  of  another  world; 
here  were  genuine,  unmistakable    Niam-Niam,  neither  circumcised  nor  crop-headed,  such  as 


NiAM-NiAM  Warrior. 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED.  145 

other  travellers  have  seen  either  in  Khartoum  or  in  the  Seribas  ;  here  they  were,  presenting 
all  the  features  of  wildness  which  the  most  vivid  Oriental  imagination*  could  conceive,  a 
people  of  a  marked  and  most  distinct  nationality,  and  that  in  Africa,  and  amongst  Africans, 
is  saying  much. ' ' 

"The  arrangements  of  the  Niam-Niam  huts,"  he  says,  "are  much  the  same  throughout  the 
land.    Two,  or  at  most  three,  families  reside  close  together.    Generally  from  eight  to  twelve  huts 
are  clustered  round  one  common  open  space,  which  is  kept  perfectly  clean,  and  in  the  centre  of 
which  is  reared  a  post,  upon  which  the  trophies  of  the  chase  are  hung.   Skulls  of  the  rarest  kind, 
splendid  horns  of  antelopes  and  bufiFaloes,  are  attached  to  this  standard,  and,  it  must  be  added, 
skulls  of  men  and  withered  hands  and  feet !    Close  in  the  rear  of  the  huts,  upon  the  level  ground, 
were  the  magazines  for  corn;  behind  these  would  be  seen  a 
circle  of  Rokko  fig  trees,  which  are  only  found  in  cultivated 
spots,  and  the  bark  of  which  is  prized,  far  more  than  the 
handsomest  of  skins,  as  a  material  to  make  into  clothing. 
Farther  in  the  background  might  be  noticed  a  perfect  en- 
closure of  paradise  figs;   then,  in  wider  circumference,   the 
plantations  of  manioc  and  maize;  and,  lastly,  the  outlying 
fields  of  eleusine  extending  to  the  compound  next  beyond. 
I  sketched  several  of  the  huts,  which  are  embellished  ex- 
ternally with  black  and  white  decorations.     Several  of  the 
dwellings  have  roofs  which  rise  upwards  in  two  points ;  long 
poles  projected  from  the  peaks  alike  of  huts  and  granaries, 
and  on  these  were  strung  rows  of  great  land-snails  {achatind).^'' 
All  these  buildings  are  mounted  on  posts.     The  chief's  hut  Tail  of  the  NiajiNiam. 

differs  in  no  essential  particulars  from  the  others,  and  the 

possessions  of  each  separate  Niam-Niam  are  parted  from  the  others,  just  in  the  same  way  as  the 
territory  of  the  diflferent  tribes,  by  desolate  intervals,  void  of  any  residents  whatever,  nominally 
for  the  purpose  of  security,  so  that  the  inhabitants  may,  by  placing  out  a  watch,  easily  guard 
against  any  sudden  attack. 

The  reputation  of  these  people  for  cannibalism  was  confirmed  by  the  further  evidence  of 
human  bones  amongst  the  piles  of  refuse  close  to  the  huts,  and  which  bore  unmistakable  tokens 
of  having  been  subjected  to  the  hatchet  or  the  knife.  The  duties  of  the  Niam-Niam  towards 
their  chiefs  seemed  to  be  chiefly  to  assemble  promptly  at  any  signal,  either  for  war  or  for  hunting. 
The  power  of  the  rulers  among  a  people  of  such  unsettled  habits  and  unpliant  temper  is  neces- 
sarily limited.  "The  official  emoluments  of  these  chiefs  are  derived  partly  from  an  allowance 
made  upon  all  the  ivory  that  is  secured,  which  is  always  paid  without  being  contested,  and  partly 
from  their  having  a  right  to  half  of  all  the  elephant  meat.  But  for  their  ordinary  subsistence  they 
have  to  turn  their  attention  to  the  cultivation  of  the  fields;  and  for  this  purpose  they  endeavor  to 
increase  their  home  establishments  by  the  acquisition  of  as  many  wives  and  women-slaves  as  their 
resources  will  allow." 

The  much-disputed  question  as  to  the  existence  of  a  race  of  men  with  tails  in  Central  Africa 
was  thought  to  have  been  settled  affirmatively  by  the  discovery  of  one  of  these  appendages,  in 
i860,  on  the  body  of  a  dead  Nyambari,  or  Niam-Niam,  a  veritable  tail — made  of  leather.  The 
cut  shows  the  interesting  article  in  question,  and  the  mode  of  wearing  it.  The  little  lines,  or  bars, 
in  the  drawing  represent  small  pieces  of  iron,  each  three  centimetres  in  length.  The  swelling  in 
the  middle  is  a  sort  of  hollow  pad.  This  is  probably  the  original  fan-shaped  tail  of  which 
M.  d'Escayrac  speaks  in  his  work  on  the  Soudan.  Long  before  ]\Iehemet  All's  expeditions  up 
the  White  Nile,  traditions  had  been  current  in  Eg}'pt  and  in  Europe  concerning  the  existence  of 
a  people  in  Central  Africa  to  whom  were  ascribed,  by  the  Mohammedans  of  the  Soudan,  all  the 
savagery  which  could  be  conjured  up  by  a  fertile  imagination;  but  it  was  not  until  the  records  of 
the  Italian  traveller,  Piaggia — who  resided  for  a  whole  year  amongst  them — were  published, 
that  any  definite  information  concerning  them  was  obtainable.  Schweinfurth's  interest  in  the 
Niam-Niam  at  times  deepens  into  almost  admiration,  and  he  devotes  many  pages  of  his  book  to 
their  consideration. 

The  name  by  which  they  are  generally  known  is  borrowed  from  the  dialect  of  the  Dinkas,  and 


146 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


means  "eaters,"  or  rather,  "great  eaters" — probably  a  reference  to  their  cannibal  propensities. 
This  desij,Miation  is*  universally  incorporated  into  the  Arabic  of  the  Soudan;  but  the  name  they 
apply  to  themselves  is  "Zandey."  The  neighboring  nations  have  a  variety  of  appellations  for 
them.  The  greater  part  of  their  country  lies  between  the  fourth  and  si.xth  parallels  of  north 
latitude,  and  a  line  drawn  across  the  centre  from  east  and  west  would  correspond  with  the  water- 
.shed  between  the  basins  of  the  Nile  and  Lake  Chad.  Their  bodies  are  ordinarily  inclined  to  be 
fat,  but  do  not  usually  exhibit  much  muscular  strength.  The  average  height  is  not  very  great; 
the  upper  part  of  the  figure  is  long  in  proportion  to  the  legs,  and  the  color  of  the  skin,  like  that 
of  the  Bongo,  Schweinfurth  compares  to  "the  dull  hue  of  a  cake  of  chocolate."  As  marks  of 
nationality  tliev  "score  themselves  with  three  or  four  tattooed  squares  filled  up  with  dots.  They 
place  these  indiscriminateh-  upon  the  forehead,  the  temples  or  the  cheeks.  They  have,  moreover, 
a  figure  like  the  letter  X  under  the  breasts;  and  in  some  exceptional  cases  they  tattoo  the  bosom 

and  the  upper  parts  of  the  arm  with  a  variety  of 
patterns,  either  stripes  or  dotted  lines,  or  zigzags. 
No  mutilation  of  the  body  is  practised  by  either 
se.x;  but  this  remark  must  be  subject  to  the  one 
exception  that  they  fall  in  with  the  custom,  com- 
mon to  the  whole  of  Central  Africa,  of  filing  the 
incisor  teeth  to  a  point,  for  the  purpose  of  effect- 
ually griping  the  arm  of  an  adversary,  either 
in  wrestling  or  in  single  combat." 

Their  covering  is  generally  composed  of 
skins,  of  the  finest  and  most  variegated  they 
can  procure;  and  the  long,  woolly  tresses  of  the 
men  are  twisted  and  combined  into  the  most 
complicated  and  extraordinary  coiffures.  The 
women  dress  their  hair  in  a  simpler  but  some- 
what similar  manner.  Their  principal  weapons 
are  their  lances  and  their  tnimbashes.  The 
latter  word,  which  has  been  incorporated  into 
the  Arabic  of  the  Soudan,  is  the  term  employed 
in  Sennaar  to  denote  generally  all  the  varieties 
of  missiles  that  are  used  by  the  negro  race.  It 
should,  however,  be  restricted  to  a  sharp,  flat 
projectile  of  wood,  a  sort  of  boomerang,  which 
is  used  for  killing  birds  or  hares,  or  any  small 
game.  When  the  weapon  is  made  of  iron  it  is 
called  kulbeda.  The  trumbash  of  the  Niam- 
Niam  consists  ordinarily  of  several  limbs  of  iron,  with  pointed  prongs  and  sharp  edges.  One 
of  them  may  be  seen  in  the  left  hand  of  the  Niam-Niam  warrior  in  the  illustration.  The 
trnmbashes  are  always  attached  to  the  inside  of  the  shields,  which  are  woven  from  the  Spanish 
reed,  and  are  of  a  long  oval  form,  covering  two-thirds  of  the  body.  They  are  ornamented  with 
black  and  white  crosses  or  other  devices,  and  are  so  light  that  they  do  not  in  the  least  impede 
the  combatants  in  their  wild  leaps.  An  expert  Niam-Niam,  by  jumping  up  for  a  moment,  can 
protect  his  feet  from  the  flying  missiles  of  his  adversary. 

Not  all  of  them  are  anthropophagi  ;  the  explorer  relates  that  some  of  the  chiefs  vehemently 
repudiated  the  idea  of  eating  human  flesh,  and  some  of  the  people  will  even  peremptorily  refuse 
to  eat  out  of  the  same  dish  with  any  one  who  is  a  cannibal.  He  finds  a  strong  resemblance  be- 
tween them  and  the  great  man-eating  race  of  the  west  coast,  the  Fans,  who,  according  to  their 
own  account,  migrated  from  the  north-east  to  the  western  coast.  Both  alike  "file  their  teeth  to 
sharp  points;  they  dress  themselves  in  a  material  made  from  bark,  and  stain  their  bodies  with' 
red  wood  ;  the  chiefs  wear  leopard  skins  as  an  emblem  of  their  rank;  and  all  the  people  lavish 
the  same  elaborate  care  upon  the  arrangement  of  their  tresses.  The  complexion  of  the  Fan  is 
of  the  same  copper-brown  as  that  of  the  Niam-Niam,  and  they  indulge  in  similar  orgies  and  wild 
dances  at  the  period  of  every  full  moon;  they  moreover  pursue  the  same  restless  hunter  life. 


LouBA,  Young  Girl  of  the  Niam-Niam. 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


14; 


MONBUTTOO  Man  and  Woman. 


Thev  would  appear  to  be  the  same  of  whom  the  old  Portuguese  writers  have  spoken  under  the 
name  of  '  Yagas,'  and  who  are  said,  at  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century,  to  have  laid 
waste  the  kingdom  of  Loango." 

South  of  the  territory  of  the  Niam-Niam  is  that  of  another  powerful  cannibal  people,  the 
Monbuttoo,  of  whom  only  the  vaguest  rumors  had  reached  Europe  before  Schweinfurth's  expe- 
dition. From  the  stories  brought  back  by  the  traders,  it  was  first  learned  that  in  this  region  there 
was  a  river  flowing  towards  the  west,  not  a  tributary  of  the  Nile,  and  that  its  banks  were  popu- 
lated by  a  race  quite  distinct  from  the  ordinary  negro,  having  a  brownish  complexion  and 
exhibitingf  a  degree  of  civilization  considerably  higher  than  was  to  be  found  anywhere  else  in 
Central  Africa.  These  people  were  designated  by  the  name  of  the  Monbuttoo,  and  by  the  ivory- 
traders  they  were  known  as  Gurrugurroo,  an  appellation  that  is  derived  from  an  Arabic  word, 
which  refers  to  their  universal  habit  of  piercing  their  ears. 

Their  country,  as  it  lies  in  the  heart  of  Africa,  does  not  cover  an  area  of  more  than  four 
thousand  square  miles,  but  the  density  of  the  population  is  hardh-  exceeded  by  any  region  of  the 
entire  continent.  The  soil  is  very  fertile  and  is  shaded  b}-  unnumbered  groves  of  plantains 
and  oil-palms,  well  watered  and  far  more  diversified  than  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  Niam-Niam 
land.  Their  crops  are  confined  mostly  to  fruits  and  tubers,  as  they  are  too  indolent  or  careless 
to  take  the  trouble  of  growing  cereals,  and  their  staple  food  is  the  plantain.  Owing  to  the 
isolation  in  which  they  live,  the  art  of  weaving  had  not  found  its  way  among  them  at  the  period 
of  Schweinfurth's  visit,  and  their  clothing  was  contributed  by  their  fig  trees,  of  which  the  bast 
from  the  bark,  with  the  help  of  some  strings  and  shreds,  was  worked  into  a  substantial  and  en- 
during fabric.  Hardly  a  hut  could  be  seen  without  its  own  grove  of  fig  trees,  which,  however, 
require  considerable  care  and  cultivation.  The  people  do  not  wear  .skins  attached  to  their  girdles, 
after  the  fashion  of  the  Niam-Niam;  the  only  occasion  when  skins  are  worn  being  when  they  are 
made  into  a  fancy  dress  for  dancers.     Every  kind  of  cattle-breeding  is  unknown  to  them  ;  their 


148 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


live-stock  consists  of  poultr>',  the  cominon  little  dogs  known  as  the  7iessy,  of  the  Niam-Niam 
breed,  and,  in  a  half-tame  state,  the  potaniochcLTUs,  a  species  of  swine.  From  the  marauding 
incursions,  with  which  they  harass  their  southern  neighbors,  they  bring  back  a  prodigious 
number  of  g<3als;  but  they  make  no  attempt  to  rear  them  for  themselves.  Their  hunting  expe- 
ditions supply  them  with  all  the  meat  they  need ;  and  their  preference  is  for  that  of  elephants, 
buffaloes,  wild  boars  and  the  larger  kind  of  antelopes.  They  have  the  art  of  preserving  it  so 
that  it  remains  fit  for  food  for  a  very  considerable  period  of  time. 

"But  of  most  universal  employment  among  them  is  human  fat;  and  this  brings  our  obser- 
vation to  the  climax  of  their  culinary  practices.  The  cannibalism  of  the  Monbuttoo  is  the  most 
pronounced  of  all  the  known  nations  of  Africa.  Surrounded  as  they  are  by  a  number  of  people 
who  are  blacker  than  themselves,  and  who,  being  inferior  to  them  in  culture,  are  consequently 
held  in  great  contempt,  they  have  just  the  opportunity  which  they  want  for  carrying  on  expe- 
ditious of  war  and  plunder,  which  result  in  the  acquisition  of  a  booty  especially  coveted  by  them 
— human  flesh.  The  bodies  of  all  who  fall  in  battle  are  distributed  upon  the  battle-field,  and 
are  prepared  by  drying  for  transport  to  the  home  of  the  conquerors.  They  drive  their  prisoners 
before  them  without  remorse,  as  butchers  would  drive  sheep  to  the  shambles;  and  these  are  only 
reserved  to  fall  victims  on  a  later  day  to  their  horrible  and  sickening  greediness.  During  our 
residence  at  the  court  of  Munza,  the  general  rumor  was  quite  current  that  nearly  every  day  some 
little  child  was  sacrificed  to  supply  his  meal." 

The  king's  private  residence  consists  of  a  group  of  several  large  huts,  each  of  which  is  set 
apart  for  one  of  his  daily  occupations.  They  are  enclosed  with  a  palisade,  and  shaded  by  planta- 
tions of  well-kept  trees.  His  food  is  always  prepared  by  one  of  his  wives,  who  perform  the 
office  in  turn,  and  he  invariably  takes  his  meals  in  private ;  everything  that  he  leaves  being 
thrown  into  a  pit  set  apart  for  that  purpose.  All  that  lie  has  handled  is  held  as  sacred,  and  may 
not  be  touched  ;  and  a  guest,  though  of  the  highest  rank,  may  not  so  much  as  light  his  pipe 
with  an  ember  from  the  fire  that  burns  before  the  throne.  Any  similar  attempt  would  be 
considered  as  high  treason  and  punished  with  death.  The  harem,  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of 
the  palace,  consists  of  eighty  young  women,  who,  with  their  attendant  female  slaves,  occupy  as 
many  huts,  erected  in  a  wide  circuit  within  the  precincts  of  the  royal  halls  and  private  apart- 
ments.    The  royal  ladies  are  divided,  according  to  age  and  seniority,  into  several  classes.     The 


5^a.vw 


Children  of  the  Kvtch  Tribe. 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


149 


elder  matrons  occupy  villages  built  for  their  accommodation  at  some  distance  from  the  residence. 
Their  number  amounts  to  several  hundred,  for  besides  his  own  wives  of  the  first  and  second 
ranks,  the  king  is  bound  to  maintain  those  inherited  from  his  father,  and  even  those  belonging 
to  a  deceased  brother.  It  is  a  long-established  African  custom  that  at  a  king's  death  his  wives 
should  fall  to  the  lot  of  his  successor,  who  never  fails  to  annex  to  their  number  a  large  addition 
of  his  own.  In  the  sixteenth  century  it  is  said  that  the  wives  of  the  king  of  Loango  were  about 
seven  thousand  in  number. 

The  Monbuttoo  have  less 
fulness  of  muscle  than  the 
Niam-Niam,  without,  however, 
any  appearance  of  debility.  The 
growth  of  the  hair  is  much  the 
same,  and  the  beard  is  much 
more  developed  than  that  of  the 
Niam-Niam.  Schweinfurth  was 
surprised  to  observe  that  at  least 
five  per  cent,  of  the  population 
had  light  hair.  "All  the  indi- 
viduals who  had  this  light  hair 
and  complexion  had  a  sickly 
expression  about  the  eyes,  and 
presented  many  signs  of  pro- 
nounced albinism  ;  they  re- 
called a  description  given  b)- 
Isaac  Vossius,  in  his  book  upon 
the  origin  of  the  Nile,  of  the 
white  men  he  saw  at  the  court 
of  the  king  of  Loango.  He  says 
that  '  they  were  sickly-looking 
and  wan  of  countenance,  with 
their  eyes  drawn  as  though  they 
were  squinting.'  This  combi- 
nation of  light  hair  and  skin 
gives  the  Monbuttoo  a  position 
distinct  from  that  of  all  the 
nations  of  the  northern  part  of 
Africa,  with  the  single  excep- 
tion of  the  various  inhabitants 
of  Morocco,  amongst  whom  fair- 
haired  individuals  are  far  from 
uncommon. ' ' 

The  women  go  almost  entire- 
ly unclothed ;  the}'  wear  nothing 
but  a  portion  of  a  plantain  leaf, 
or  a  piece  of  bark  about  the  size 

of  the  hand,  attached  to  the  front  of  their  girdle,  the  rest  of  the  body  being  figured  in  labored 
patterns  by  means  of  a  black  juice  obtained  from  a  plant.  The  Dinka  women,  leaving  perfect 
nudity  as  a  prerogative  to  their  husbands,  are  modestly  clothed  with  skins  ;  the  Mittoo  and 
Bongo  women  wear  a  girdle  of  foliage,  and  those  of  the  Niam-Niam  an  apron  of  hides.  But 
though  the  Monbuttoo  men  are  more  fullv  clothed  than  those  of  any  of  the  surrounding  nations, 
the  women  are  content  with  this  extreme  scantiness  of  apparel. 

Whenever  the  women  go  out,  they  carry  across  their  arm  a  strap,  which  they  lay  across  their 
lap  on  sitting  down.  These  straps,  or  scarfs,  are  about  a  foot  wide,  and  something  like  a  saddle- 
girth;  and  as  they  form  their  first  attempt  in  the  art  of  weaving,  their  texture  is  of  the  clumsiest 
order,  possessing  no  other  recommendation  than  durability.    They  are  appropriated  to  the  further 


His  Majesty,  King  Katchiba,  on  his  Travels. 


'50 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


use  of  fastening  infants  to  tlieir  mothers'  backs.  The  women  can  be  distinguished  from  one 
another  by  tlie  different  tattooed  figures  running  in  bands  across  the  breast  and  back  along  the 
shoulders  ;  their  bodies,  moreover,  are  painted  with  an  almost  inexhaustible  variety  of  patterns. 
"Stars  and  Maltese  crosses,  bees  and  flowers,  are  all  enlisted  as  designs.     At  one  time  the  entire 


M 

CQ 
-1 

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< 

O 
OS 

u 

< 

a 

< 
n 

u. 
c/5 


body  is  covered  with  stripes  like  a  zebra,  and  at  another,  with  irregular  spots  and  dots  like  a 
tiger.  I  have  even  seen  these  women  streaked  with  veins  like  marble,  and  even  covered  with 
■squares  like  a  chessboard.  At  the  great  festivals  ever)-  Monbuttoo  lady  endeavors  to  outshine 
her  compeers,  and  accordingly  applies  all  her  powers  of  invention  to  the  adornment  of  her 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED.  151 

person.     The  patterns  last  for  about  two  days,  when  they  are  carefully  rubbed  off  and  replaced 
by  uew  designs. ' ' 

Instead  of  this  paint  the  men  use  a  cosmetic  prepared  from  pulverized  cam-wood,  which  is 
mixed  with  fat  and  then  rubbed  over  the  whole  body.  The  Niam-Niam  also  make  use  of  this 
powder ;  but  the}-  only  apply  it  in  irregular  spots  and  stripes,  delighting  especially  in  staining 
the  breast  and  face  to  increase  the  ferocity  of  their  appearance. 

The  coiffure  of  both  sexes  of  the  Monbuttoo  is  alike  ;  the  hair  of  the  top  and  back  of  the 
head  is  drawn  up  into  a  long  cylindrical  chignon,  and,  being  fastened  on  the  inside  by  an  arrange- 
ment of  reeds,  slopes  backward  ;  across  the  forehead,  from  temple  to  temple,  the  hair  is  twisted 
in  thin  tresses,  which  lie  one  above  another,  closely  fitting  the  skull  until  they  reach  the  crown 
of  the  head.  Their  own  hair  is  rarely  long  enough  to  form  this  portion  of  the  head-gear,  but  the 
deficiency  is  supplied  from  the  heads  of  those  who  have  fallen  in  war,  or,  since  hair  is  an  article 
of  traffic  in  the  country,  is  procured  from  the  market.  On  the  top  of  the  chignon  the  men  wear 
cylindrical  straw  hats,  square  at  the  top  and  without  brims,  adorned  either  with  tufts  of  red 
parrot's  feathers  or  with  the  long  feathers  of  eagles  and  falcons.  The  hats,  of  course,  follow 
the  backward  slanting  direction  of  the  chignons.  The  women  wear  no  hat  on  their  chignon, 
which  is  merely  adorned  with  little  hairpins  attached  to  combs  made  of  the  quills  of  the  porcu- 
pine. The  only  mutilation  of  the  body  consists  in  boring  the  inner  muscle  of  the  ear  for  the 
purpose  of  inserting  a  metal  bar  about  the  size  of  a  cigar. 

In  strong  contrast  to  these  capable  and  prosperous  cannibals  is  the  miserable  pastoral  tribe 
of  the  Kytchs,  which  Sir  Samuel  Baker  describes  as  having  visited  on  his  expedition  up  the 
Nile,  in  1862,  in  search  of  Speke  and  Grant.  Their  countr}-  lies  around  Zariba,  on  the  upper 
waters  of  the  White  Nile.  At  the  time  of  Sir  Samuel's  visit  it  was  a  marsh  which  it  was 
impossible  to  traverse  until  the  subsidence  of  the  waters.  Under  these  circumstances  the  natives 
are  driven  to  seek  footing  on  the  tops  of  the  nests  of  the  white  ants,  which,  more  foresighted 
than  the  human  beings,  rear  their  structures  to  the  height  of  some  ten  feet  above  the  ground, 
and  seek  refuge  in  the  upper  galleries  themselves  as  the  waters  moimt.  On  the  top  of  these 
solid  structures  the  Kytchs  assemble,  build  their  fires,  seek  refuge  in  the  smoke  against  the 
mosquitoes  and  rub  their  naked  bodies  with  the  ashes  to  keep  them  warm.  Though  they  have 
cattle,  they  will  not  kill  them  for  food,  preferring  to  starve  themselves.  If  any  animal  dies,  how- 
ever, they  devour  it  to  the  bones,  which  they  crush  between  stones  and  convert  into  a  sort  of 
paste.  "There  is  not  enough  left  to  feed  a  fly,"  says  Baker.  Their  ordinary-  food,  in  addition 
to  these  windfalls,  consists  of  rats,  lizards,  serpents  and  fish  which  they  sometimes  capture  by 
throwing  their  harpoons  at  random  amongst  the  reeds.  Occasionally  they  are  fortunate  enough 
to  strike  a  monster  of  some  two  hundred  pounds  weight,  which  they  are  forced  to  secure  by 
throwing  themselves  in  the  water  to  capture  it  by  swimming,  at  the  risk  of  being  themselves 
captured  by  the  crocodiles. 

The  men  are  of  a  good  figure,  but  excessively  meagre ;  the  children  were  like  skeletons,  and 
in  fact  the  whole  tribe  had  a  famished  appearance.  Their  leanness  gave  to  their  arms  and  legs 
an  apparently  extravagant  length,  so  that  the  explorer  compared  them  to  gnats.  They  besieged 
his  camp,  offering  to  exchange  fagots  of  wood  for  handfuls  of  grain,  or  begging  for  small  portions 
of  flour,  which  they  received  in  shells  shaped  something  like  gourds,  and  immediately  devoured. 
The  chief  of  the  tribe  wore  on  his  shoulders  a  piece  of  leopard  skin,  attached  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  leave  the  rest  of  his  body  uncovered  ;  he  carried  a  sort  of  iron  pike,  about  two  feet  long, 
hollowed  at  one  end  and  covered  with  a  piece  of  the  skin  of  the  iguana.  On  his  head  he  wore 
a  skull-cap,  ornamented  with  white  pearls  and  ostrich  feathers.  His  daughter,  sixteen  years  of 
age,  was.  Baker  declares,  the  prettiest  negress  he  had  ever  seen.  Her  costume  consisted  of  a 
scrap  of  tanned  leather,  about  a  foot  square,  and  which  was  attached  to  a  collar  and  hanging 
over  the  left  arm  ;  in  addition,  she  wore,  like  the  other  young  girls,  a  girdle  of  tinkling  iron 
ornaments.  Polygamy  is  practised  among  this  tribe,  as  it  is  among  most  of  the  natives  of  the 
warm  climates.  When  a  man  grows  too  old,  his  numerous  young  wives  become  the  property  of 
his  eldest  son.  At  the  head  of  each  herd  of  their  cattle,  they  put  a  sort  of  sacred  bull,  whose 
horns  are  ornamented  with  feathers,  and  sometimes  with  little  bells.  This  bull  is  the  chief  of 
the  herd,  and  each  morning,  when  he  issues  from  the  kraal,  the  Kytchs  address  to  him  a  species 
of  prayer,   entreating  him  to  watch  over  his  comrades,   not  to  permit  the  cows  to  stray  off", 


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AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED.  _  153 

and  to  conduct  them  to  the  most  fertile  pasturages,  in  order  that  they  may  give  a  quantity  of 
good  milk. 

Still  farther  up  towards  the  headwaters  of  the  Nile,  where  it  issues  from  Lake  Albert  N'yanza, 
are  the  Obbo,  whose  country  borders  on  that  of  the  Latooka  already  mentioned.  The  Obbo  differ 
from  the  latter,  both  in  dialect  and  appearance.  They  do  not  go  entirely  naked  excepting  when 
they  are  on  a  war  expedition,  then  they  tattoo  the  body  in  red  and  yellow  stripes.  Their  ordinary' 
costume  consists  of  the  skin  of  a  goat  or  an  antelope,  thrown  over  the  shoulders  like  a  cloak. 
Their  features,  especially  the  nose,  are  well  formed.  Their  mode  of  dressing  the  hair  differs  from 
that  of  their  neighbors  ;  their  woolly  locks  confined  with  strings  are  brought  back  in  a  flat  tail, 
something  like  that  of  the  beaver;  a  very  fine  thong  of  leather  retains  this  in  form.  This  coiffure, 
like  that  of  the  Latookas,  requires  several  years  of  care  to  bring  to  perfection. 

Their  country  is  very  fertile  and  produces  in  abundance  yams,  which  have  the  taste  of  pota- 
toes, excellent  fruits,  among  others,  plums,  grapes  and  pistachios,  and  tobacco  flourishes,  but  the 
climate  is  humid  and  fever-breeding.  Baker  relates  that  he  here,  for  the  first  time,  adopted  the 
habit  of  smoking  the  native  pipes,  which  are  smaller  and  more  elegant  than  elsewhere,  in  hopes 
of  counteracting  the  malarial  influences.  In  addition  to  these  pipes  the  Obbo  make  earthenware 
vases,  badly  baked  and  fragile,  but  very  graceful  in  shape,  though  they  are  made  entirely  by 
hand,  the  potter's  wheel  not  being  known.  The  other  domestic  utensils,  like  those  of  nearly  all 
the  White  Nile  tribes,  are  of  wood  or  of  dried  calabashes.  The  huts  are  constructed  like  those 
of  the  Baris.  The  women  are  much  less  dressed  than  the  men,  in  general  they  content  them- 
selves with  attaching  to  a  girdle  around  the  waist  a  piece  of  leather,  about  four  inches  long  by 
two  wide.  The  young  girls  wear  nothing  at  all,  excepting,  when  their  means  permit,  three  or 
four  rows  of  small  white  pearls,  which  form  an  apron  about  three  inches  long.  As  to  the  old 
women,  they  go,  like  Eve,  with  a  bunch  of  dried  leaves  attached  to  a  string  around  the  waist. 
Some  of  the  young  girls  also  wear  this  leafy  apron,  for  the  styles  are  not  very  exactly  defined. 
This  costume  has  at  least  the  advantage  of  being  always  fresh  and  clean.  The  women  are  all 
modest  in  countenance,  many  of  them  are  described  as  pretty,  and  their  noses  are  delicate  in 
shape.     In  fact  they  are  completely  unlike  the  gross  Latooka  women. 

The  chief  of  this  tribe,  at  the  time  of  Baker's  visit,  was  a  hale  old  gentleman  named  Katchiba, 
sixty  years  of  age.  He  was  partly  sorcerer,  partly  buffoon,  a  sufficiently  good  musician,  and 
mild  of  character.  His  wives  were  numerous,  and  distributed  among  the  different  villages,  so 
that  wherever  his  majesty  went  he  was  sure  to  find  himself  at  home.  Like  the  wives  of 
the  patriarchs,  they  considered  it  a  reproach  not  to  be  mothers,  so  that  Katchiba  had  a  hundred 
and  sixteen  children,  "all  in  good  health."  One  of  his  sons  was  at  the  head  of  each  village; 
the  oldest  of  them,  a  well-made  young  fellow,  was  proposed  as  a  guard  of  honor  for  Lady  Baker 
while  her  husband  was  absent  on  a  brief  excursion  towards  the  south  with  three  of  his  men,  and, 
in  fact,  she  was  installed  in  a  fine  hut,  with  a  door  four  feet  in  height,  very  well  treated  and 
guarded  night  and  day  by  one  of  the  chiefs  sons.  Katchiba,  who  experienced  some  difficulty  in 
walking,  usually  travelled  mounted  on  the  back  of  one  of  his  vigorous  subjects,  accompanied  by 
two  others  who  served  alternately  as  guides  and  as  remounts.  One  of  the  royal  wives  also  accom- 
panied this  cortege,  carrying  a  jar  of  beer  from  which,  it  was  said,  the  king  sometimes  partook 
so  freely  that  two  men  were  required  to  carry  him  instead  of  one.  One  day,  under  the  pretext 
of  obtaining  from  his  subjects  a  more  liberal  supply  of  chickens  for  the  use  of  Lady  Baker, 
Katchiba  borrowed  one  of  Sir  Samuel's  horses,  but  the  animal,  unused  to  such  a  rider,  soon 
ended  by  throwing  him.  After  that  the  chief  concluded  that  his  bodily  health  would  be  better 
served  if  he  contented  himself  with  mounting  upon  a  donkey,  which  was  conducted  by  two  of 
Baker's  men. 

Accompanied  by  his  wife,  the  intrepid  explorer  left  Obbo  on  the  5th  of  January,  1864,  on  his 
route  southward,  though  at  the  time  he  was  suffering  from  fever,  and  Lady  Baker  was  far  from 
well.  They  crossed  the  Attabi,  and,  three  days  afterwards,  the  Asona,- rivers  flowing  north- 
westerly into  the  White  Nile.  Their  next  halting  place  was  Shona,  southwest  of  the  Obbo ; 
this  they  left  on  the  i8th,  and,  five  days  later,  reached  the  shores  of  the  "Somerset"  branch  of 
the  Nile,  which  flows  from  Lake  Victoria  N'yanza.  Here,  in  the  country  of  the  Unyoro,  they 
were  detained  a  long  time  by  the  treachery  or  the  cowardice  of  the  chief,  Kamrasi,  and  it  was 
not  until  he  had  calmly  proposed  to  the  Englishman  to  forward  him  to  the  lake  and  back  again 


•5-} 


AFRICA    ILLUSTRA TED. 


Sir  Samuel  and  Ladv  Bakei*  ckossing  the  Desert. 


to  Sliona  on  consideration  of  receiving  his  wife  as  part  payment, — a  proposal  which  the  offended 
husband  received  by  leveling  his  revolver  at  the  royal  head,  and  Lady  Baker  herself  with  a  tor- 
rent of  indignation  in  good  Arabic, — that  they  were  finally  enabled  to  depart.  On  the  morning 
of  the  14th  of  March,  they  at  length  came  in  sight  of  the  long  desired  sheet  of  water,  the  second- 
ary source  of  the  Nile,  which  Baker  decided  to  call  Albert  N'yanza,  as  Speke  had  named  the 
other,  Victoria  N'yanza.  The  point  at  which  they  had  come  out  upon  it  was  at  a  little  fishing, 
village  called  Vacovia,  situated  on  the  eastern  shore  some  distance  from  the  head  of  the  lake."" 
Baker  decided  to  send  his  cattle  to  Magungo,  farther  up  the  shore,  near  the  northern  extremity, 
and  to  proceed  there  himself  b\'  water.  After  many  delays  he  succeeded  in  procuring  two 
canoes,  in  the  larger  of  which  he  put  most  of  his  men,  and  in  the  smaller,  manned  by  four 
rowers,  Lady  Baker  and  himself.  On  the  thirteenth  day  after  leaving  Vacovia,  and  after 
narrowly  escaping  shipwreck  in  a  violent  storm,  the  voyagers  landed  at  Magungo.  Here  the 
explorer  resolved  to  ascend  the  Somerset  branch  of  the  Nile  to  endeavor,  if  possible,  to  identify 
it  with  the  river  which  Speke  had  discovered  flowing  from  Lake  Victoria  to  Lake  Albert,  but 
after  proceeding  but  a  short  distance  he  was  stopped  by  the  most  imposing  cataract  yet  discovered 
on  tlie  Nile,  and  to  which,  in  honor  of  the  President  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society,  he  gave 
the  name  of  Murchison  Falls.  Here,  exhausted  bj-  fatigue  and  fever,  and  having  lost  all  their 
cattle  by  the  bite  of  the  tsets^  fl\-,  the  travellers  were  in  danger  of  falling  into  the  power  of  the 
natives,  but  saved  themselves  by  a  prompt  crossing  of  the  river  and,  a  day  or  two  afterwards, 
were  joined  by  ten  Arabs  of  their  party  who  had  been  left  with  Kamrasi.  At  daybreak  of  the 
17th  November,  the  return  march  was  commenced,  and  on  the  evening  of  the  fifth  day  Shona 
was  reached  again.  The  almost  daily  rains  of  the  Unyoro  countr}'  had  been  succeeded  by  fine 
weather,  the  grass  was  in  good  condition,  and  the  weary  travellers  were  established  in  a  comfort- 
able camp.  On  the  evening  of  their  arrival  the  women  of  the  vicinity  came  in  crowds  to 
congratulate  Lady  Baker  on  her  safe  return,  and  forming  a  ring  in  front  of  her  danced  round 
and  round  to  do  her  honor.  In  acknowledgement  of  their  demonstration,  a  cow  was  killed  and 
presented  to  them.  After  remaining  in  this  hospitable  village  till  restored  to  comparative 
strength,  the  travellers  set  out  again  and  reached  without  serious  molestation  Gondokoro  and 
then  Egypt. 

Before  setting  out  on  this  expedition  to  discover  the  sources  of  the  Nile,    "or  perish  in  the 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED.  155 

attempt,"  Sir  Samuel  Baker  devoted  nearly  a  year  to  the  exploration  of  the  Abyssinian  affluents 
of  the  river,  and  the  results  of  which  were  to  establish  to  his  satisfaction  the  fact  that  though  the 
main  stream  of  the  river  is  fed  by  the  great  equatorial  lakes  and  the  rains  of  that  region,  the 
annual  inundation  is  due  in  great  measure  to  the  streams  of  the  mountains  of  Abyssinia,  which 
not  only  cause  it  to  overflow  its  banks,  but  by  stripping  their  own  plateaux  serve  to  carry  down 
into  it  those  earthy  deposits  which  fertilize  the  soil  of  Egypt  and  form  the  Delta.  In  addition  to 
these  geographical  investigations,  the  country  through  which  the  route  lay  was  swarming  with 
game,  and  furnished  to  the  traveller  some  very  interesting  hunting  expeditions.  Instead  of  pro- 
ceeding south  to  Khartoum,  Sir  Samuel  and  Lady  Baker  therefore  turned  aside  and  ascended  the 
Atbara  for  some  two  hundred  and  twenty  miles  from  its  mouth,  then,  leaving  it  to  their  right, 
they  struck  off  to  the  south-east  and  reached  Cassala,  on  the  frontiers  of  Abyssinia,  on  the  9th  of 
July,  1861.  Notwithstanding  the  extreme  heat,  the  travelling  in  the  desert  was  not  altogether 
intolerable.  "The  nights  are  fresh  and  pure,"  says  the  explorer,  "the  sky  is  covered  with 
stars,  the  horizon  seems  to  draw  near,  the  hills  in  the  moonlight  take  on  strange  forms,  and  the 
calm  which  surrounds  you  in  those  mysterious  solitudes  assumes  a  supernatural  character  which 
is  full  of  charm.  There  is  not  a  mosquito,  not  one  of  those  insects  which  are  the  plague  of  hot 
countries.     As  soon  as  the  sun  disappears  you  may  enjoy  a  delightful  comfort." 

But  the  sun  reappears,  the  plain  is  again  limitless,  the  sands  glitter  and  the  rocks  are  like 
braziers.  To  the  devouring  ra>-s  of  the  great  luminar}'  is  added  the  deadly  breath  of  the  simoon. 
"The  wood  twists,  the  \\ory  melts,  the  paper  breaks  as  you  touch  it;  the  marrow  of  your  bones 
dries ;  the  water  vessels  are  empty.  The  dust  fills  the  ears,  the  mouth  and  the  nostrils  ;  it  passes 
in  thick  clouds,  forms  colunms  more  than  a  thousand  feet  in  height  which  traverse  the  plain  in 
turning  on  themselves  or  fly  in  every  direction  before  the  whirlwind."  Even  on  the  borders  of 
the  streams,  apart  from  the  shade  of  the  mimosas  and  doum  palms  which  fringe  the  shores,  it  is 
still  the  same  burning  plain.  And  to  traverse  this  furnace  there  is  no  means  but  that  of  a  most 
execrable  mount.  "Of  all  fatigues,"  says  Baker,  "that  which  the  motion  of  the  camel  produces 
is  the  most  frightful ;  a  nauseating  balancing  which  breaks  your  body.  If,  losing  patience,  you 
urge  your  beast  into  a  trot,  the  torture  of  the  wheel  is  as  nothing  compared  with  the  action  of 
your  spinal  column,  which,  as  though  struck  by  a  sledge-hammer,  drives  into  your  skull."  This 
is  the  ordinary  camel  of  passage;  it  is  said  that  the  pure-blooded  dromedary  has  a  gentle  amble 
which  covers  a  mile  in  six  minutes,  and  which  can  be  endured  without  great  fatigue  for  nine  or 
ten  hours;  but  the  Arab  values  this  animal  much  too  highly  to  be  willing  to  hire  him  to  a 
stranger. 

Cassala  was  left  on  the  15th  of  July,  the  travellers  turning  their  faces  westward  again  to 
regain  the  Atbara.  The  rains  had  commenced  the  day  on  which  they  emerged  from  the  desert, 
and  they  continued  steadily,  becoming  more  and  more  copious.  They  were  surrounded  by  ver- 
dure, but  the  camels  sank  in  the  muddy  soil  which  clogged  their  spongy  feet,  and  necessitated 
incessant  halts,  so  that  the  Arabs  hastened  to  conduct  them  to  a  region  of  more  solid  footing. 
The  route  was  encumbered  by  innumerable  flocks  of  goats  and  sheep;  by  camels  carrying 
women  and  children  and  curious  household  articles;  and  by  fine- looking  men  draped  in  white 
and  armed  with  sword  and  buckler,  directing  their  dromedaries  through  the  midst  of  the  crowd. 
All  were  travelling  towards  the  north,  where  fresh  pasturage  could  be  obtained,  and  where 
neither  fever  nor  the  cattle-fly  were  to  be  dreaded.  The  English  travellers,  on  the  contrary, 
were  heading  south,  and  despite  the  difficulties  of  the  route,  they  succeeded  in  reaching  Sofi 
fourteen  days  after  leaving  Cassala.  This  is  but  a  miserable  village  of  some  thirty  huts,  but 
it  has  an  admirable  situation.  A  German  mason  had  here  constructed  himself  a  small  stone 
house,  the  only  one  in  the  place,  and  had  resided  in  it  for  several  years.  He  was  a  man 
strongly  built,  very  pale,  and  whom  constant  labor  and  numberless  maladies  had  left  nothing 
but  skin  and  bone.  He  had  come  out  from  Europe  with  some  Austrian  missionaries  who 
had  established  themselves  at  Khartoum,  but  being  of  an  enterprising  disposition,  he  had  left 
their  establishment,  bought  a  carbine  and  taken  to  hunting  and  to  various  occupations  which 
procured  him  a  livelihood.  This  worthy  man,  wlio  was  named  Florian,  had  traversed  much 
of  the  country  which  Baker  proposed  to  explore,  and  it  was  to  consult  him  that  the  latter  had 
come  to  Sofi. 

The  game  was  all  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atbara,  much  of  it,  elephants  and  giraffes,  in 


AFRICA    ILLUSTRATED.  157 

plain  sight;  but  the  rain  continued  to  fall  in  torrents,  there  were  no  boats  and  the  river  was 
impassable.  Finally,  the  hunters  succeeded  in  constructing  a  raft,  which,  directed  by  natives 
swimming  on  each  side  of  it,  safely  transported  them  to  the  other  side.  The  first  animals  to  fall 
before  Baker's  rifle  were  two  or  three  magnificent  giraffes,  but  he  had  more  dangerous  game 
in  view.  "We  had  been  in  Sofi  a  month,"  he  says,  "when  I  received  a  visit  from  a  band 
of  hunters,  whom  I  had  had  the  greatest  desire  to  meet.  I  had  heard  that  certain  Arabs,  of  the 
Hamran  tribe,  whose  country  lies  to  the  south  of  Cassala,  were  in  the  habit  of  killing  the 
most  redoubtable  wild  animals  with  weapons  of  steel  alone.  I  was  not  able  to  imagine  how 
an  elephant  could  be  killed  with  a  sabre,  unless  indeed  he  were  surrounded  by  a  great  num- 
ber of  hunters,  and  hacked  at  until  he  received  his  death-stroke.  I  was  assured,  however, 
that  on  a  good  coursing-ground,  the  most  savage  elephant  had  no  chance  of  escaping  from 
these  (iggagii;  for  so  are  called  these  heroic  swordsmen.  I  had  decided  to  take  into  my  em- 
ploy some  of  these  extraordinary  huntsmen,  and  retain  them  during  the  period  of  my  explor- 
ations of  the  Abyssinian  rivers.  This  determination  had  been  made  known  in  the  country^, 
and  to  this  I  owed  the  visit  of  the  aggagir." 

It  is  only  in  their  style  of  dressing  the  hair,  which  they  wear  very  long,  and  which,  divided 
in  the  middle  of  the  head,  hangs  in  long  tresses,  that  the  Hamran  differ  from  the  other 
Arabs  of  this  region.  Like  all  the  others,  their  arms  consist  of  the  sword  and  the  shield. 
The  latter  is  of  two  shapes,  round  and  a  narrow  oval;  the  Hamran  use  the  round  shape. 
The  sword  is  always  of  the  same  form,  a  two-edged  blade,  very  long,  and  more  than  four 
centimetres  in  width,  and  having  for  hilt  a  cross,  of  which  the  transverse  piece  forms  the 
only  guard.  The  sword  of  the  aggagir  differs  from  the  others  only  in  having  a  cord  wound 
tightly  around  the  blade  to  the  distance  of  nine  inches  below  the  cross  piece,  which  permits 
of  its  being  seized  by  the  right  hand  while  the  left  hand  holds  the  hilt,  thus  converting  it 
into  a  two-handed  weapon. 

The  Hamran  who  are  not  rich  enough  to  own  horses  are  in  the  habit  of  hunting  the 
elephant  two  at  a  time.  They  endeavor  to  surprise  the  animal  between  the  hours  of  ten  and 
twelve  o'clock  in  the  morning,  which  is  the  period  of  the  day  at  which  it  generally  reposes,  and 
if  it  is  not  actually  asleep  it  is  at  least  less  vigilant  and  easier  to  approach.  If  found  asleep,  one 
of  the  hunters  crawls  cautiously  towards  the  head  and  with  one  stroke  severs  the  trunk,  which 
is  extended  along  the  ground.  The  mighty  beast  starts  to  its  feet,  but  bewildered  by  this  fright- 
ful awakening  he  does  not  endeavor  to  pursue  the  hunters.  The  blood  flows  in  torrents,  and 
at  the  expiration  of  an  hour  he  is  dead.  If,  on  the  contrary,  he  is  awake,  his  enemies  ap- 
proach from  behind,  the  two  hamstrings  are  cut,  one  after  the  other,  and,  as  in  the  first  case, 
the  hemorrhage  soon  deprives  him  of  life.  These,  however,  are  the  methods  of  the  poorer 
hunters;  as  soon  as  the  sale  of  their  ivory  permits  them  to  procure  horses,  the  aggagir  exercise 
their  vocation  in  a  manner  that  is  at  once  more  lucrative  and  more  brilliant.  Three  horse- 
men start  before  daybreak,  and  proceed  slowly  to  the  place  where  they  hope  to  find  the  game. 
Once  on  the  track,  they  quicken  their  pace — twenty  miles  may  separate  them  from  the  quarry, 
but  that  matters  but  little.  The  herd  is  at  length  perceived,  the  old  male  who  carries  the 
biggest  tusks  is  selected,  and  the  chase  is  begun.  After  a  short  pursuit,  the  animal  ttirns  on 
his  tormentors  who  scatter  in  every  direction  and  fly  before  him  ;  as  soon  as  he  resumes  his 
course  they  are  again  on  his  heels,  and  when  he  turns  again,  one  of  the  hunters  is  selected 
to  approach  him  and  attract  his  attention.  The  exasperated  beast  charges  with  his  utmost  speed, 
and  the  hunters  are  under  the  necessity  of  summoning  to  their  assistance  all  the  coolness  and 
all  the  skill  they  possess.  The  Arabs  whom  Sir  Samuel  Baker  had  taken  into  his  employ, 
were  able,  some  time  afterwards,  to  give  him  a  striking  exhibition  of  their  skill  and  bravery. 

A  solitary  male  elephant  which  they  discovered  drinking  at  the  river  had  turned  on  them 
when  they  pressed  him  too  closely  and  scattered  the  hunters  in  every  direction  by  his  impetu- 
ous charge.  For  a  few  moments  Baker  himself  was  in  extreme  peril,  the  enormous  beast 
being  all  but  upon  him.  Then  the  latter  abandoned  the  chase  and  disappeared  in  the  thick 
brushwood,  and  it  required  some  time  to  find  him  again.  "As  soon  as  he  perceived  the 
horses  again,  he  proceeded  deliberately  to  entrench  himself  on  a  rocky  place  where  the  fissures 
gave  root  to  some  scattered  trees,  about  the  thickness  of  a  man's  leg.  Arrived  in  this  forti- 
fication, he  turned  proudly  and  halted,  evidently  determined  to  make  head  against  us. 


158 


AFRICA    ILLUSTRATED. 


"  'It  will  be  difficult  to  run  in  such  a  place  as  that,'  said  Taher  to  me;   'better  send  him 

a  ball.' 

"I  declined  the  honor,  wishing  to  see  the  combat  terminated  by  the  sword ;  but  I  proposed  to  dis- 
lodge the  elephant, 
in  order  to  get  him 
on  a  better  piece 
of  ground.  In  his 
turn,  the  hunter  re- 
fused;  'no  mat- 
ter, '  he  said  ;  '  and 
God  grant  that  we 
are  not  beaten ! ' 
Then  he  recom- 
mended me  to  re- 
main near  him,  and 
to  be  on  my  guard. 
"The  elephant 
was  still  before  us, 
motionless  as  a 
statue.  Excepting 
his  e}es  which  he 
kept  constantly  in 
motion  to  all  sides, 
not  a  muscle  moved. 
Taher  and  Ibrahim, 
the  eldest  and  the 
youngest  o  f  the 
four  Ch^rifF,  took 
one  the  right  and 
the  other  the  left 
of  the  elephant,  to 
rejoin  each  other  at 
twenty  paces  be- 
hind him.  I  ac- 
companied Taher, 
who  placed  me  at 
the  same  distance, 
but  at  the  animal's 
left.  Hassan  and 
Hadji-Ali,  not 
being  required,  re- 
mained in  the  back- 
ground. Directly 
in  front  of  the  ele- 
phant were  the 
two  other  brothers, 
one  of  them  being 
the  celebrated  Ro- 
dar,  with  the  with- 
ered arm. 
' '  When  ever\'one  was  at  his  post,  Rodar  advanced  slowly  towards  the  game,  who  waited  to 
seize  him.  He  was  mounted  upon  a  bay  mare,  admirably  broken,  who  seemed  to  comprehend 
perfectly  her  perilous  role.  Slowly  and  coolly  she  approached  her  terrible  adversary,  until  she 
was  no  farther  than  seven  or  eight  yards  from  the  head  of  the  colossus.  The  latter  had  not 
made  a  movement,  nor  did  he  stir. 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED.  159 

"The  mis  en  seine  was  superb ;  each  of  us  at  his  place,  not  a  word,  not  a  gesture ;  the  mare 
with  her  eyes  fixed  on  the  elephant  before  her,  and  seeking  to  foresee  the  attack;  the  hunter, 
calm  and  cool  in  his  saddle,  watching  the  enormous  beast. 

"In  the  silence  the  mare  suddenly  commenced  to  snort,  then  advanced  another  step.  I  saw 
the  eye  of  the  elephant  move.  '  Look  out  for  yourself,  Rodar !'  I  cried.  Uttering  a  shrill  cry, 
the  elephant  suddenly  precipitated  himself  on  the  hunter  like  an  avalanche. 

"The  mare  wheeled,  and,  clearing  stones  and  rocks,  carried  away  her  rider,  who,  leaning  for- 
ward in  his  seat,  watched  over  his  shoulder  the  formidable  chase  bearing  down  upon  him.  I 
thought  for  a  moment  he  was  done  for ;  if  his  mare  had  stumbled  he  would  have  been  lost,  but 
in  a  few  bounds  she  gained  the  advantage,  and  Rodar,  his  eyes  always  to  the  rear,  contrived  to 
preserve  the  same  distance  between  him  and  the  enemy,  a  distance  so  small  that  there  were  but 
a  few  feet  between  the  croup  of  the  horse  and  the  trunk  of  the  elephant. 

"During  this  time,  rapid  as  falcons,  Taher  and  Ibrahim  followed  the  elephant,  avoiding  the 
trees  and  clearing  all  obstacles  with  extraordinary  address.  When  they  came  out  upon  open 
ground  they  increased  their  speed  and  came  up  with  the  elephant  which,  absorbed  in  his  pursuit, 
paid  attention  to  nothing  but  the  fugitives  before  him.  When  lie  was  on  the  heels  of  the  flying 
colossus,  Taher  drew  his  sword  and  taking  it  in  both  hands  leaped  from  his  horse,  which  Ibrahim 
took  charge  of.  He  made  two  or  three  bounds,  the  blade  flashed  in  the  sun,  a  dull  sound 
followed  and  the  elephant  suddenly  halted  ;  the  sword  had  severed  the  tendon  and  sunk  deeply 
in  the  bone,  twelve  inches  above  the  foot. 

"Taher  had  made  a  rapid  bound  to  one  side;  in  an  instant  he  was  in  the  saddle  again.  Rodar 
faced  about,  and,  as  at  the  beginning,  found  himself  once  more  confionting  the  elephant. 
Without  dismounting  he  gathered  up  a  handful  of  sand,  which  he  threw  at  the  furious  animal. 
The  wounded  beast  endeavored  to  resume  his  charge,  but  in  vain,  the  dislocated  foot  turned  up 
in  front  like  an  old  slipper.  Leaving  his  saddle  again,  Taher  struck  the  other  leg ;  this  time  it 
was  the  death-stroke,  the  artery  was  severed  and  the  blood  issued  from  the  wound  in  spurts.  I 
wished  to  finish  the  elephant  by  a  ball  behind  the  ear,  but  Taher  protested.  The  elejshant,  he 
said,  would  be  dead  before  long,  and  without  pain,  and  the  report  of  the  gun,  otherwise 
unnecessary,  might  attract  the  attention  of  the  Basds,  who  would  carry  off  the  game." 

In  his  later  expedition  up  the  head-waters  of  the  Nile,  at  the  head  of  the  Khedive's  forces  to 
break  up  the  slave  trade,  Baker  gives  an  account  of  an  entirely  difierent  species  of  hunting,  but 
one  only  less  exciting  and  dangerous  than  this.  It  consists  in  driving  the  game  by  fire  towards 
a  series  of  strong  nets  extending  over  a  space  of  about  a  mile  and  a  half  in  length;  the  ground 
in  front  of  the  nets  being  cleared  of  grass,  and  a  man  stationed  before  each  section,  both  within 
and  without,  concealed  behind  a  screen  simply  formed  of  the  long  grass  bound  together  at  the 
top.  "The  rule  of  sport  decided  that  the  proprietor  of  each  section  of  netting  of  twelve 
yards  in  length  would  be  entitled  to  all  game  that  should  be  killed  within  these  limits ;  but  that 
the  owners  of  the  manors  which  formed  the  hunt  upon  that  day  should  receive  a  hind  leg  from 
every  animal  captured.  This  was  fair  play;  but  in  such  hunts  a  breach  of  the  peace  was  of 
common  occurrence,  as  a  large  animal  might  charge  the  net  and  receive  a  spear  from  the  owner 
of  the  section,  after  which  he  might  break  back  and  eventually  be  killed  in  the  net  of  another 
hunter ;  which  would  cause  a  hot  dispute. 

"The  nets  had  been  arranged  in  perfect  stillness,  and  the  men  having  concealed  themselves, 
we  were  placed  in  positions  on  the  extreme  flanks  with  the  rifles.  Rifle-shooting  was  dangerous 
work,  as  the  countrj-  was  alive  with  people  who  were  hidden  in  every  direction."  Everything 
being  in  readiness,  the  signal  was  given  by  means  of  a  shrill  whistle,  repeated  at  intervals  to 
windward,  and  in  a  few  minutes,  a  long  line  of  separate  thin  pillars  of  smoke  ascended  into  the 
blue  sky,  forming  a  row  extending  about  two  miles.  These  thin  pillars  rapidly  thickened  and 
became  dense  columns,  until  at  length  they  united  and  formed  a  long  black  cloud  of  smoke  that 
drifted  before  the  wind  over  the  bright  yellow  surface  of  the  high  grass.  All  kinds  of  game  are 
beaten  up  by  this  effective  means,  from  lions,  leopards  and  rhinoceroses  to  the  smallest.  The 
sport  becomes  very  exciting  and  sometimes  dangerous  towards  the  end,  as  the  fire  approaches 
the  hunters  and  the  nets. 

"  Presently  I  saw  a  slate-colored  mass  trotting  along  the  face  of  the  opposite  slope,  about  two 
hundred  and  fifty  yards  distant.     I  quickh-  made  out  a  rhinoceros,  and  I  was  in  hopes  that  he 


■■^'^^s^c"-"i 


1 60 


The  GRArnuDE  of  the  Bari  Women. 


~^,dU^  "^{^^'^ 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED.  i6i 

was  coming  towards  me.  Suddenly  he  turned  to  the  right  and  continued  along  the  face  of  the 
inclination.  Some  of  the  beautiful  leucotis  antelopes  now  appeared  and  cantered  towards  me, 
but  halted  when  they  approached  the  stream,  and  listened.  The  game  understood  the  hunting 
as  well  as  the  natives.  In  the  same  manner  that  the  young  children  went  out  to  hunt  with  their 
parents,  so  had  the  wild  animals  been  hunted  together  with  their  parents  ever  since  their  birth. 

"The  leucotis  now  charged  across  the  stream.  At  the  same  time  a  herd  of  liartbeest  dashed 
past;  I  knocked  over  one,  and  with  the  left-hand  barrel  I  wounded  a  leucotis.  At  tliis  moment 
a  lion  and  lioness,  that  had  been  disturbed  by  the  fire  in  our  rear,  came  bounding  along,  close  to 
where  Molodi  had  been  concealed  with  the  luncheon.  Away  went  Molodi  at  a  tremendous  pace! 
and  he  came  rushing  past  me  as  though  the  lions  were  chasing  him ;  but  they  were  endeavoring 
to  escape  themselves,  and  had  no  idea  of  attacking. 

"I  was  just  going  to  take  the  inviting  shot  when,  as  my  finger  was  on  the  trigger,  I  saw  the 
head  of  a  native  rise  out  of  the  grass  directly  in  the  line  of  fire  ;  then  another  head  popjjed  up 
from  a  native  who  had  been  concealed,  and  rather  than  risk  an  accident  I  allowed  the  lion  to  pass. 
In  one  magnificent  bound  it  cleared  the  stream,  and  disappeared  in  the  high  grass. 

"The  fire  was  advancing  rapidly,  and  the  game  was  coming  up  fast.  A  small  herd  of  leucotis 
crossed  the  brook,  and  I  killed  another;  but  the  smoke  had  become  so  thick  that  I  was  nearly 
blinded.  It  was  at  length  impossible  to  see ;  the  roar  of  the  fire  and  the  heat  were  terrific,  as 
the  blast  swept  before  the  advancing  flames,  and  filled  the  air  and  eyes  with  fine  black  ashes.  I 
literally  had  to  turn  and  run  hard  into  fresher  atmosphere  to  get  a  gasp  of  cool  air,  and  to  wipe 
my  streaming  eyes.  Just  as  I  emerged  from  the  smoke,  a  leucotis  came  past,  and  received  both 
the  right  and  left  bullets  in  a  good  place  before  it  fell. 

"  The  fire  reached  the  stream  and  at  once  expired.  The  wind  swept  the  smoke  on  before, 
and  left  in  view  the  velvety  black  surface  that  had  been  completely  denuded  by  the  flames. 

....  "It  may  readily  be  imagined  that  accidents  frequently  occur  in  the  great  luints  already 
described,  as  it  is  quite  impossible  to  speculate  upon  the  species  of  animal  that  may  be  driven 
into  the  net.  A  fine  little  lad  of  about  eleven  years  old  was  killed  by  a  leopard  within  a  mile  of 
my  Fatiko  station.  The  grass  had  been  fired,  and  the  animals  instinctively  knew  that  they  were 
piirsued.  The  boy  went  to  drink  at  a  stream  close  to  some  higli  reeds,  when  a  lc(;pard  pounced 
upon  him  without  the  slightest  warning.  A  native,  who  was  close  to  the  spot,  rushed  up  to  the 
rescue,  and  threw  his  spear  with  such  dexterity  that  he  struck  the  leopard  through  tlie  neck 
while  it  had  the  boy  in  its  mouth,  killing  it  upon  the  spot.  The  boy  was  immediately  brought 
to  me,  but  the  lungs  were  lacerated,  and  he  died  during  the  night." 

This  beautiful  animal  is  indeed  one  of  the  most  formidable  of  the  African  jungles,  and  every 
hunter  and  explorer  has  tales  to  tell  of  its  courage  and  ferocity.  When  brought  to  bay,  it  does 
not  hesitate  to  turn  and  attack,  always  leaping  at  the  throat  if  possible.  One  of  Livingstone's 
men  was  mortally  bitten  by  one,  though  it  had  received  a  spear  through  its  flanks,  entirely 
paralyzing  its  hind-quarters.  One  of  Stanley's  donkeys,  on  one  of  his  marches  through  the 
dense  forest  of  the  interior,  was,  however,  more  fortunate — it  was  suddenly  seized  by  the  neck 
by  a  leopard,  but  it  set  up  such  a  lamentable  braying,  in  which  all  its  comrades  joined,  that  the 
frightened  aggressor  loosed  its  hold  and  slunk  off  into  the  thicket.  Schweinfurth  relates  that  the 
Niam-Niam,  during  his  .sojourn  among  them,  organized  a  great  demonstration  over  the  killing  of 
one  of  these  animals.  "They  succeeded  in  killing  a  leopard,  an  event  that  was  deemed  so  great 
a  triumph  that  old  and  young  conspired  to  do  honor  to  the  occasion.  The  first  intimation  that 
we  had  of  anything  unusual  having  transpired  was  given  by  the  war-trumpets,  the  notes  of 
which  were  heard  in  the'direction  of  Uringama's  villages.  Our  first  impression  was  that  the 
Niam-Niam,  who  were  charged  by  the  keen  Kenoosian  with  the  protection  of  his  frontier,  had 
been  successfully  repulsing  some  assault  on  the  part  of  the  Babuckur.  But  very  soon  the  report 
was  circulated  that  a  noble  present  was  being  conveyed  to  Mohammed,  and,  true  enough,  ere 
long  there  appeared  a  formal  procession,  bearing  on  a  litter  of  leaves  the  blood-stained  carca.ss  of 
the  leopard.  The  offering  was  duly  laid  at  Mohammed's  feet  as  a  tribute,  betokening  the  respect 
and  friendship  of  the  behnky.  Throughout  the  whole  of  Central  Africa,  the  skin  of  the  leopard 
is  deemed  a  suitable  adornment  for  persons  of  princely  rank,  and  nowhere  is  it  more  readily 
admitted  amongst  the  insignia  of  royalty  than  with  the  Niam-Niarti." 

Sir  Samuel  Baker's  experiences  in  Africa  were  very  varied,  even  for  an  explorer  of  unknown 


^f^^^J,   c> 


162 


Bongo  Women. 


& 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED.  163 

countries.  As  a  contrast  to  these  spirited  hunting  scenes,  we  give  a  softer  story  in  which  he 
figured  as  the  hero,  and  which  took  place  on  his  return  from  the  expedition  in  which  he  had 
been  commissioned  by  the  Khedive  to  abolish  the  slave  trade  in  the  Nile  Basin.  On  his  march, 
he  says,  "I  had  taken  under  my  especial  protection  a  number  of  Bari  women  and  young  girls, 
whom  Wat-el-Mek  and  Tayib  Agha  had  pressed  into  their  service  to  carry  loads  during  their 
journey  from  Goudokoro  to  Fatiko.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  these  poor  creatures  never 
would  have  been  returned  to  their  country,  had  I  not  delivered  them;  but  seeing  their  condition 
upon  their  arrival  at  Fatiko,  I  had  ordered  them  to  accompany  me,  and  to  show  me  the  position 
of  their  homes  during  the  march. 

"On  arrival  at  the  broad  dry  bed  of  a  stream,  about  two  days'  march  from  Gondokoro,  we 
halted  beneath  the  shade  of  a  large  tree  for  breakfast.  The  women  and  children  now  approached, 
and  hesitatingly  declared  that  this  was  their  country,  and  that  their  villages  were  near.  They 
evidently  doubted  my  sincerity  in  restoring  them,  which  hurt  me  exceedingly. 

"  'Go,  my  good  women,'  I  exclaimed,  'and  when  you  arrive  at  your  homes,  explain  to 
your  people  that  you  were  captured  entirely  against  my  will,  and  that  I  am  only  happy  to  have 
restored  you.' 

"For  a  few  moments  they  looked  around  them,  as  hardly  believing  the  good  news.  In 
another  instant,  as  the  truth  flashed  across  their  delighted  minds,  they  rushed  upon  me  in  a 
body,  and  before  I  had  time  for  self-defense,  I  found  myself  in  the  arms  of  a  naked  beauty  who 
kissed  me  almost  to  suffocation,  and  with  a  most  unpleasant  embrace  licked  both  my  eyes  with 
her  tongue.  The  sentries  came  to  my  assistance,  together  with  the  servants,  who  withstood  the 
grateful  crowd;  otherwise  both  my  wife  and  myself  would  have  been  subjected  to  this  painful 
thanksgiving  from  the  liberated  Bari  women. 

"Their  freedom  having  been  explained,  we  gave  them  a  present  of  beads  as  a  reward  for  the 
trouble  they  had  undergone,  and  they  went  away  rejoicing  upon  the  road  to  their  own  homes." 

West  from  Gondokoro,  and  north  of  the  Niam-Niam,  lies  the  country  of  the  Bongo,  a  people 
ruined  by  the  unscrupulous  greed  of  the  slave  traders,  but  originally  one  of  the  most  important 
and  numerous  of  this  section  of  the  country.  The  complexion  of  the  Bongo  in  color  is  not  dis- 
similar to  the  red  brown  soil  upon  which  they  reside.  Their  neighbors,  the  Dinka,  on  the  White 
Nile,  on  the  other  hand,  are  as  black  as  their  own  native  alluvium.  In  journeying  up  this  river, 
the  traveller  seems  to  have  struck  the  commencement  of  a  new  series  of  races,  extending  far  to 
the  southward  when  he  reaches  the  Bongo.  The  jet  black  Shillooks,  Nueir  and  Dinka,  natives 
of  the  dark  alluvial  flats,  offer  a  strong  contrast  to  the  dwellers  upon  the  iron  red  rocks,  who — 
notwithstanding  their  diversity  in  dialect  and  in  mode  of  life — possess  many  characteristics  in 
common.  Of  this  series,  the  most  important  tribes  are  the  Bongo,  the  Mittoo,  the  Niam-Niam 
and  the  Kredy,  all  of  which  are  equally  remarkable  for  their  entire  indifference  to  cattle-breeding. 
The  whole  of  these,  especially  the  women,  are  distinguished  for  the  reddish  hue  of  their  skin, 
which  in  many  cases  is  almost  copper-colored.  Like  the  Niam-Niam,  Mittoo  and  Kredy,  the 
Bongo  rarely  exceed  a  medium  height.  They  differ,  however,  in  several  respects  from  the  Dinka 
and  other  people  of  the  lowland  plains.  Their  prominent  characteristic,  according  to  Schwein- 
furth,  appears  to  consist  in  a  more  compact  form  of  limb,  a  sharper  development  of  muscle,  a 
wider  formation  of  the  skull,  and  generally,  a  preponderating  mass  in  the  upper  part  of  the  body. 
Dinka  and  Bongo  alike,  afford  very  striking  samples  of  the  two  great  series  of  races  which  they 
severally  represent,  and  each  displays  the  principal  characteristics  of  their  particular  race  in  the 
stature,  the  complexion  and  the  formation  the  skull.  Among  the  Dinka,  the  latter  is  long  and 
narrow,  a  peculiarity  unknown  among  the  Bongo. 

The  hair  of  the  Bongo  offers  no  peculiarity,  either  with  regard  to  its  culture  or  its  growth, 
that  is  of  any  special  interest;  it  is  short,  curly  and  woolly.  Corresponding  to  the  numerous 
gradations  in  complexion  and  formation  of  the  skull  among  these  races  are  the  varieties  in 
growth  of  the  hair  which  are  exhibited.  Hair  which  is  thick  and  frizzly  is  common  amongst 
every  race  that  has  hitherto  been  discovered  on  African  soil,  and  although  there  are  a  few  unim- 
portant exceptions  among  the  Arab  tribes  (the  Sheigieh),  who  have  settled  in  Nubia,  and  not- 
withstanding that  the  hair  of  the  Ethiopians,  as  well  as  that  of  the  North  African  people,  may 
be  termed  curly  more  appropriately  than  woolly,  yet  straight  hair  is  nowhere  to  be  found.  The 
real  distinctions,  therefore,  in  the  growth  of  the  hair  in  the  nations  of  Central  Africa,  consist  in 


1 64 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


Bushmen  Women. 


the  color  and  length,  which  vary  considerably  in  the  different  races.  Beards  predominate  with 
some,  whilst  with  others  they  fail  entirely.  In  common  with  most  other  people  of  the  red  soil, 
the  Bongo  have  hair  which  is  perfectly  black;  but  in  its  length  it  is  ver)-  different  from  that  of 
the  Niam-Niam.  On  the  frontiers  of  that  people,  the  Bongo  have  often  tried  to  imitate  their 
neighbors  by  twisting  and  plaiting  their  hair,  but  their  attempts  have  been  always  failures. 
Whiskers,  beards  and  moustaches  have  been  cultivated  in  very  rare  cases,  but  the  hair  never 
grows  to  a  length  much  exceeding  half  an  inch. 

Bongoland  is  traversed  from  south  to  north  by  five  important  tributaries  of  the  Bahr  el  Gazal 
or  White  Nile.  With  these  are  associated  a  number  of  smaller  rivulets  which  are  not  permanent 
streams;  nevertheless,  from  the  pools  which  remain  in  their  beds  throughout  the  dry  season,  they 
furnish  a  sufficient  supply  of  moisture  to  maintain  the  vegetation  of  the  countr}\  Water  for 
drinking  never  fails,  although  from  November  to  the  end  of  March  a  fall  of  rain  is  quite  excep- 
tional. Dearth  as  a  consequence  of  prolonged  drought  appears  to  be  a  condition  quite  unknown; 
the  crops  are  far  more  frequently  injured  by  superabundant  moisture  than  by  drought,  and  the 
continuance  of  wide  inundations  has  been  followed  by  famine.  The  Bongo  are  essentially  an 
agricultural  people.     With  the  exception  of  some  occasional  hunting,  and  some  intermittent 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED.  165 

periods  devoted  to  fishing,  they  depend  entirely  upon  the  produce  of  the  soil  for  their  subsistence. 
Upon  the  cultivation  of  the  sorghum  they  bestow  a  very  large  amount  of  labor.  Very  few  vege- 
tables are  grown,  but  for  these  the  people  find  a  variety  of  substitutes  in  the  wild  plants  and 
tubers  which  abound.  During  the  rainy  season  the  country  is  very  prolific  in  many  varieties  of 
fungi.  The  Bongo  have  a  great  fancy  for  them;  they  keep  them  till  they  are  on  the  verge  of 
decay  and  then  dry  and  pound  them.  They  use  them  for  the  purpose  of  flavoring  their  sauces, 
which,  in  consequence,  are  enriched  by  a  haul  gout  which  Sclnveinfurth  compares  to  rotten  fish. 
Indeed  it  is  quite  incredible  what  these  people  are  able  to  digest.  Most  of  the  bulbs  and  tubers 
are  so  extremely  bitter  that  it  is  not  until  they  have  been  thoroughly  steeped  in  boiling  water,  or 
have  had  their  pungent  matter  mollified  by  being  roasted  at  a  fire,  that  they  can  be  eaten  at  all; 
they  are  gall  to  the  taste.  There  is  an  entire  deficiency  of  common  salt  throughout  the  district 
of  the  Gazal;  the  alkali,  that  is  everywhere  its  substitute,  is  obtained  by  soaking  the  ashes  of 
the  burned  wood  of  the  Grewia  mollis.^  a  shrub  common  throughout  Bongoland,  and  which  is 
notoriously  useful  in  another  way  by  the  quantity  of  bast  whicli  it  produces.  Tobacco  is  indis- 
pensable to  the  Bongo  and  is  universally  cultivated.  The  natives  are  greatly  addicted  to 
smoking,  and  are  not  content  until  they  are  utterly  stupefied  by  its  effects. 

At  the  period  when  the  Khartoumers  first  made  their  way  into  this  country,  the  Bongo, 
quite  unlike  the  other  tribes,  inhabited  extensive  villages,  which,  similar  to  the  present  Seribas, 
were  encompassed  by.  a  palisade.  At  the  time  of  Schweinfurth's  visit,  however,  neither  towns 
nor  villages  were  to  be  seen,  and  the  districts  which  were  occupied  at  all  were  only  marked 
by  scattered  enclosures  and  little  groups  of  huts,  as  in  the  country  of  the  Dinka  and  the 
Niam-Niam.  "The  communities  in  past  times,"  says  Schweinfurth,  "seem  to  have  had  a 
preference  for  gathering  round  some  great  tamarind,  ficus,  or  butter  tree,  which  often  still 
survives  and  constitutes  the  only  relic  of  habitations  which  have  long  fallen  to  decay;  and 
even 'to  the  present  time  the  Bongo  appear  to  retain  this  partiality,  and  more  often  than 
not,  they  may  be  found  beneath  the  natural  shade  of  a  spreading  roof  of  foliage,  enjoying  the 
light  and  space  which  are  prohibited  to  their  cramped  and  narrow  dwellings.  The  ground, 
for  a  considerable  circuit  about  the  tree,  is  all  well-cleared  and  levelled,  its  surface  being  the 
general  scene  of  labor  on  which  all  the  women  perform  their  ordinary  domestic  duties.  The 
corn  is  there  threshed  and  winnowed;  there  it  is  brayed  in  the  wooden  mortars  or  pounded 
by  the  mill.  There  are  the  leaves  of  the  tobacco  plant,  laid  out  to  dry.  There  stand  the 
baskets  with  the  loads  of  mushrooms  or  supply  of  fruits;  and  there  may  be  seen  the  accumu- 
lated store  of  nutritious  roots.  Dogs  and  poultry  alike  seem  to  revel  in  security  under  the 
majestic  covering,  while  the  little  children  at  their  play  complete  the  idyllic  picture  of  life 
in  Central  Africa." 

Upon  the  erection  of  their  dwellings  the  Bongo  bestow  more  pains  than  any  other  people 
in  the  Gazal  district.  Although  they  invariably  adopt  the  conical  shape,  they  allow  themselves 
considerable  diversity  in  the  forms  they  use.  The  materials  they  employ  are  upright  tree- 
stems,  plaited  fagots,  canes  of  the  bamboo,  clay  from  the  mushroom-shaped  white  ant  hills, 
and  tough  grass,  and  the  bast  of  the  grewia.  The  diameter  of  the  dwellings  rarely  exceeds 
twenty-two  feet;  the  height  being  generally  about  the  same.  The  entrance  consists  of  a  hole 
so  small  that  it  is  necessary  to  creep  through  in  order  to  get  inside,  and  the  door  is  a  hurdle 
swung  upon  two  posts  so  as  to  be  pushed  backward  and  forward  at  pleasure.  The  clay  floor 
in  the  interior  is  always  perfectly  level;  it  is  made  secure  against  damp  as  well  as  against 
the  entrance  of  white  ants  by  having  been  flattened  down  by  the  women  trampling  upon  broad 
strips  of  bark  laid  upon  it.  The  common  sleeping-place  of  the  parents  and  smaller  children  is 
on  the  floor.  The  bedding  consists  only  of  skins,  the  Bongo  having  little  care  for  mats.  For 
the  pillow  of  the  family  they  generally  use  a  branch  of  tree,  smoothed  by  being  stripped  of  its  bark. 

In  every  dwelling-place  there  is  found  a  conical  receptacle  for  grain,  named  the  gallo/oh, 
which  is  elevated  on  piles,  var>'ing  in  height,  so  as  to  protect  the  provision  from  the  damp 
of  the  soil,  or  from  the  ravages  of  rats  or  white  ants.  Magazines  of  this  kind  for  the  reserve 
of  grain  are  in  general  use  throughout  Africa,  from  the  Rumboo  of  Damerghoo,  in  the  Central 
Soudan,  right  into  the  country  of  the  Kaffirs  and  Bechuanas.  All  -the  dwellings  of  the  Bongo, 
whether  large  or  small,  are  marked  by  one  characteristic,  which  might  almost  be  represented 
as  a  national  feature.     The  peak  of  their  huts   is   always  furnished  with   a  circular  pad  of 


1 66 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


straw,  very  carefully  made,  which  serves  as  a  seat,  and  from  which  it  is  possible  to  take  a 
survey  of  the  country,  covered  with  its  tall  growth  of  grain.  The  name  of  gony  is  given  to 
this  elevation,  which  is  surrounded  by  six  or  eight  curved  bits  of  wood,  projecting  through 
the  roof  like  horns. 

Iron  is  found  in  such  quantities  throughout  the  region  that  the  inhabitants  naturally  devote 
much  of  their  attention  to  its  use.  Although  apparently  entirely  deficient  in  suitable  tools  and 
apparatus,  they  contrive  to  produce  some  wonderful  results.  With  their  rude  bellows  and  a 
hammer  which,  more  commonly  than  not,  is  merely  a  round  ball  of  pebble-stone — though 
occasionall)-  it  may  be  a  little  pyramid  of  iron  without  a  handle — upon  an  anvil  of  gneiss  or 
granite,  with  an  ordinary  little  chisel  and  a  pair  of  tongs  consisting  of  a  mere  piece  of  split 
green  wood,  they  contrive  to  fabricate  articles  which  might  bear  comparison,  Schweiufurth 
declares,  with   the  work  of  a  European  smith.     The  most  important  of  the  iron  productions 


Belles  of  King  Shinte's  Court. 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED.  167 

are  designed  for  the  trade  that  the  Bongo  carry  on  with  the  tribes  that  dwell  in  the  north, 
and  which  was  formerly  very  active.  The  raw  iron  is  exhibited  in  three  forms:  one  is  named 
maliee^  being  spear-heads  of  one  or  two  feet  in  length;  the  second  is  known  as  loggoh  kolhitty^ 
and  is  simply  a  lot  of  black,  ill-formed  spades;  the  third  is  called  distinctively  loggoh,  and 
consists  of  regular  spades,  which,  under  the  market  appellation  of  melot,  have  a  wide  sale 
everywhere  along  the  course  of  the  Upper  Nile.  The  loggoh  koUutty  is  the  circulating  medium 
of  the  Bongo,  the  only  equivalent  which  Central  Africa  possesses  for  money  of  any  description, 
but,  rough-shaped  as  it  is,  it  seems  to  answer  in  its  way  the  purpose  of  regular  coin.  According 
to  Major  Denham,  who  visited  Central  Soudan  in  1824,  there  were  at  that  time  some  iron  pieces 
which  were  circulated  as  currency  in  Loggon,  on  the  Lower  Shary,  answering  to  what  is  now 
in  use  among  the  Bongo;  but  at  the  period  of  Earth's  visit  all  traces  of  their  use  had  long 
disappeared.  The  loggoh  kollutty  is  formed  in  flat  circles,  varying  in  diameter  from  ten  to 
twelve  inches.  On  one  edge  there  is  a  short  handle;  on  the  opposite,  there  is  attached  a 
projecting  limb,  somewhat  in  the  form  of  an  anchor.  In  this  shape  the  metal  is  stored  up  in 
the  treasures  of  the  rich,  and  serves  as  well  as  the  lance-heads  and  spades  for  cash  and  for 
exchanges,  being  available  not  only  for  purchases,  but  for  the  marriage  portions.  The  ax  of 
the  Bongo  consists  of  a  flat,  cumbrous  wedge  of  iron,  into  the  thick  end  of  which  is  inserted 
a  knobbed  handle.  It  is  an  instrument  differing  in  no  particular  from  what  may  be  seen 
throughout  Central  Africa. 

Besides  these  rough  exhibitions  of  their  craft,  the  Bongo  produce  arms,  tools  and  ornaments 
of  admirable  quality,  and,  at  the  instance  of  the  controllers  of  the  Seribas,  have  manufactured 
chains  and  manacles  for  the  slave  traffic.  Very  elegant,  it  might  almost  be  said  artistic,  is  the 
work  displayed  on  the  points  of  their  arrows  and  lances.  Equal  care  is  bestowed  upon  the 
production  of  the  iron  and  copper  ornaments  which  are  worn,  and  the  cutlery  which  is  used 
by  the  women.  For  the  purpose  of  plucking  out  their  eyebrows  and  eyelashes,  they  employ 
a  pair  of  little  pincers  called  peenoh.  Quite  peculiar  to  the  Bongo  women  are  their  tibbah,  or 
elongated  oval  knives,  with  handles  at  either  end,  which  are  sharpened  on  both  edges,  and 
which  are  often  ver}-  elaborate  in  their  workmanship.  These  knives  are  in  constant  use  for 
all  domestic  purposes,  being  of  especial  service  in  peeling  their  tubers,  and  in  slicing  their 
gourds  and  cucumbers.  The  rings,  the  bells,  the  clasps,  the  buttons,  whatever  they  affix  to 
■  their  projecting  lips  or  attach  to  the  rims  of  their  ears,  the  lancet-shaped  hair-pins,  which 
appear  to  be  indispensable  to  the  decoration  of  the  crowns  of  their  heads  and  to  the  parting 
of  their  locks,  are  all  fabricated  to  supply  the  demands  of  the  Bongo  woman's  toilette. 

The  decoration  of  which  the  men  are  proudest  is  the  daugabor,  which  simply  means 
"rings  one  above  another."  The  Dinka  and  the  Dyoor  both  have  an  ornament  very  similar 
to  this,  composed  of  accumulated  rings,  which  cover  the  arm  below  the  elbow;  but  the 
Bongo  finish  oflT  their  article  with  much  more  elaborate  work.  Each  separate  ring  is  furnished 
with  a  boss  of  a  height  and  strength  to  correspond  with  that  of  the  ring  next  to  it,  the  rings 
themselves  being  forged  so  as  to  become  gradually  larger  in  proportion  as  they  are  farther 
from  the  wrist.  The  arm  is  thus  covered  with  what  might  be  described  as  a  sleeve  of  mail, 
each  ring  of  which  can  be  turned  round  or  displaced  at  pleasure. 

Hardly  inferior  to  the  skill  of  the  Bongo  in  the  working  of  iron  is  their  dexterity  in 
wood-carving.  Perhaps  the  most  striking  specimens  of  their  art  in  this  respect  are  the  little 
four-legged  seats  or  stools  which  are  found  in  e\'ery  household,  and  are  called  hegba.  These 
are  invariably  made  from  a  single  block,  the  wood  chosen  for  the  purpose  being  that  of  the 
G611  tree,  which  is  of  a  chestnut  brown,  and  after  use  acquires  an  excellent  polish.  They  are 
used  only  by  the  women,  who  are  continually  to  be  seen  sitting  on  them  in  front  of  their 
huts;  but  they  are  altogether  avoided  by  the  men  who  regard  every  raised  seat  as  an 
effeminate  luxury.  Other  articles  of  their  fabric  in  wood  are  the  pestles,  the  troughs  for 
oil-pressing,  the  flails  for  threshing  grain,  and,  most  remarkable  of  all,  the  goblet-shaped 
mortars  in  which  grain  is  bruised  before  it  is  ground  into  flour  upon  the  grinding-stones. 
Very  graceful  in  shape  are  these  mortars,  not  unlike  a  drinking  goblet  with  a  cut  stem. 
They  are  not  sunk  below  the  ground,  as  is  ordinarily  the  case  with  those  of  the  Dinka  and 
Dyoor,  but  they  can  be  removed,  whenever  it  is  necessar\%  from  place  to  place.  Their  height 
is   about   thirty  inches.     Mortars   of  very  similar  design  were  noticed   by  Barth   among   the 


i 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED.  169 

Musgoo,  and  they  are  also  used  by  the  Orambo,  the  Makolo,  and  other  negro  nations.  They 
are  worked  by  two  women  at  once,  who  alternately  pound  away  with  heavy  pestles  in  regular 
African  fashion— that  which  may  be  seen  immortalized  on  the  walls  of  the  monuments  of  ancient 
Egypt.  Very  cleverly,  too,  do  the  Bongo  cut  spoons  of  very  choice  design  out  of  horn,  of  the 
same  shape  as  may  be  found  in  nearly  every  market  of  Europe.  Rude  carved  figures  to  set  up 
over  their  graves,  musical  instruments  of  various  kinds,  basket  work,  fish-nets,  creels  and  snares, 
bird-snares,  pottery,  and  the  rude  preparation  of  skins,  are  also  among  the  various  handicrafts 
practised  by  this  people,  who  may  be  taken  as  a  type  of  the  ingenious,  industrious — for  savages- 
tribes  of  Central  Africa. 

In  the  matter  of  personal  ornament,  the  savage  is  voluntarily  even  more  of  a  slave  to  fashion 
than  any  of  the  most  refined  races  of  civilization.     Here,  as  in  every  other  quarter  of  the  globe, 
the  male  sex  desires  to  be  externally  distinguished  from  the  female,  but  the  negroes  differ  widely 
in  their  habits  in  this  respect.     There  is,  however,  one  ugly  custom  which  is  common  to  both 
sexes  throughout  the  basin  of  the  Gazal,  which  consists   in    snapping  off  the  incisors  of  the 
lower  jaw,   an  operation  which  is  performed  as  soon  as  the  milk-teeth  have  been  thoroughly 
replaced  by  the  permanent  ones.     Upon  the  south  borders  of  the  country,  near  the  Niam-Niam, 
this  custom  ceases  to  be  exactly  followed,  and  there  it  is  the  habit,  as  with  the  Niam-Niam  them- 
selves, instead  of  breaking  them  off,  to  file  some  of  the  teeth,  and  indeed,  sometimes  all  of  them, 
into  sharp  points.     Occasionally  the  natives  file  off  the  sides  of  the  upper  teeth  as  well  as  clip 
off  the  lower;  nor  is  it  an  uncommon  thing  for  gaps  to  be  opened  at  the  points  of  contact  of  the 
central  upper  teeth,  whilst  every  now  and  then  individual  cases  occur  where  interstices  have 
been  made  in  the  sides  of  all  the  four  front  teeth  large  enough  to  admit  a  good-sized  tooth-pick. 
The  men  do  not  go  about  in  a  condition  so  naked  as  either  the  Dyoor,  the  Shillooks  or  the 
Dinka,  but  they  wear  an  apron  of  some  sort  of  skin,  and  of  late  years  have  adopted  a  strip  of 
stuff,  which  they  fasten  to  the  girdle  that  is  never  missing,  allowing  the  ends  to  hang  over  before 
and  behind.     All  the  sons  of  the  red  soil,  as  the  Bongo,  the  Mittoo,  the  Niam-Niam  and  the 
Kredy,  are  called  "women"  by  the  Dinka,  because,  amongst  them  the  females  only  are  pro- 
tected by  any  covering  of  this  description.    The  Bongo  women,  on  the  other  hand,  and  especially 
those  who  reside  on  the  highlands,  obstinately  refuse  to  wear  any  covering  whatever,  either  of 
skin  or  stuflf,  but  merely  replenish  their  wardrobe  every  morning  by  a  visit  to  the  woods.     They 
are,  therefore,   in  respect  to  modesty,  less  particular  than  the  women  of  the  Dinka;  a  supply 
bough  with  plenty  of  leaves,  and  perhaps  a  bunch  of  fine  grass  fastened  to  the  girdle,  is  all  they 
consider  necessary.     Now  and  then  a  tail,  like  a  black  horse-tail,  composed  of  the  bast  of  the 
Sanseviera,  is  appended  to  the  back  of  the  girdle.     The  rest  of  the  body  is  allowed  by  both 
sexes  to  be  entirely  unclad,  and  no  addition  to  the  costume  is  ever  seen,  excepting  the  feathered 
head-gear,  which  is  exhibited  on  the  occasion  of  a  feast  or  a  dance.     As  a  rule,  the  hair  of  both 
men  and  women  is  kept  quite  short,  and  not  infrequently  is  very  closely  shorn,  the  principal 
exceptions  being  found  in  the  south,  where  the  habits  of  the  Niam-Niam  have  extended  their 
influence  into  the  Bongo  territory,  and  both  men  and  women  wear  tufts  and  braids  of  a  length 
approximating  to  that  of  their  neighbors. 

Very  few  are  the  people  of  Central  Africa  amongst  whom  the  partiality  for  finery  and  orna- 
ments is  so  strongly  shown  as  with  these.  The  women  wear  on  their  necks  an  accumulation  of 
cods  and  beads,  and,  not  being  fastidious  like  their  neighbors,  will  put  on,  without  regard  to 
shape  or  color,  whatever  the  market  of  Khartoum  can  provide.  The  men  do  not  care  much  for 
this  particular  decoration,  but  prefer  necklaces,  on  which  they  string  some  of  those  remarkable 
little  fragments  of  wood  which  are  so  constantly  found  in  every  region  of  Africa.  With  the  bits 
of  wood  hang  fragments  of  roots,  which  are  in  form  something  like  the  mandrake  which,  in 
Southern  Europe,  has  been  the  subject  of  so  strange  a  superstition.  Alternating  with  the  roots 
and  wood  are  the  talons  of  owls  and  eagles,  the  teeth  of  dogs,  crocodiles  and  jackals,  little 
tortoise-shells,  the  claws  of  the  earth-pig,  and,  in  short,  any  of  those  objects  which  we  are 
accustomed  to  collect  in  the  cabinets  of  the  naturalist.  They  appear  to  supply  the  place  of  the 
extracts  from  the  Koran  which,  wrapped  in  leathern  sheaths,  the  Nubians  wear  by  dozens  about 
their  persons;  anything  in  the  shape  of  an  amulet  being  eagerly  craved  by  everA'  African.  Not 
infrequently  the  men  deck  themselves  out  in  females'  ornaments.  Many  cover  the  rims  of  their 
ears  with  copper  rings  and  crescents;  others  pierce  the  upper  lip  like  the  women,  and  insert 


^^..^.8  ^^ 


5'B55'tSiailii|||ii|ilili||!l!ll!|lii!i 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED.  171 

either  a  round-headed  copper  nail  or  a  copper  plate,  or,  what  is  still  more  general,  some  rings  or 
a  bit  of  straw.  The  skin  of  the  stomach  above  the  waist  is  often  pierced  bj'  the  men,  and  the 
incision  filled  up  with  a  bit  of  wood,  or  occasionally  by  a  good-sized  peg. 

The  women  delight  in  distinguishing  themselves  by  an  adornment  which,  to  our  notions,  is 
nothing  less  than  a  hideous  mutilation.  As  soon  as  a  woman  is  married  the  operation  commences 
of  extending  her  lower  lip.  This,  at  first  only  slightly  bored,  is  widened  by  inserting  into  the 
orifice  plugs  of  wood,  gradually  increasing  in  size,  until  at  length  the  entire  feature  is  enlarged 
to  five  or  six  times  its  original  proportions.  The  plugs  are  cylindrical  in  form,  and  not  less  than 
an  inch  thick.  By  this  means  the  lower  lip  is  extended  horizontally  till  it  projects  far  beyond 
the  upper,  which  is  also  bored  and  fitted  with  a  copper  plate  or  nail,  and  now  and  then  by  a  little 
ring,  and  sometimes  by  a  bit  of  straw  about  as  thick  as  a  lucifer  match.  Nor  do  they  leave  the 
nose  intact;  similar  bits  of  straw  are  inserted  into  the  edges  of  the  nostrils,  sometimes  as  many 
as  three  on  either  side.  A  very  favorite  ornament  for  the  cartilage  between  the  nostrils  is  a 
copper  ring,  just  like  those  that  we  place  in  the  noses  of  buffaloes  and  other  bea.sts  of  burden  for 
the  purpose  of  rendering  them  more  tractable.  The  greatest  fcoquettes  among  the  ladies  wear  a 
clasp  or  cramp  at  the  corners  of  the  mouth,  as  though  they  wanted  to  contract  the  orifice,  and, 
literally,  to  put  a  curb  upon  its  capabilities.  According  to  the  custom  of  the  people,  there  need 
only  be  a  trifling  projection  of  the  skin,  so  as  to  form  a  flap  or  a  fold,  to  be  at  once  the  excuse  for 
boring  a  hole.  The  ears  are  perforated  more  than  any  other  part,  both  the  outer  and  the  inner 
auricle  being  profusely  pierced;  the  tip  of  the  ear  alone  is  frequently  made  to  carry  half  a  dozen 
little  iron  rings.  There  are  women  in  the  country  whose  bodies  are  pierced,  in  one  way  or 
another,  in  nearly  a  hundred  different  places. 

They  limit  their  tattooing  to  the  upper  part  of  the  arm.  Zigzag  or  parallel  lines,  or  rows  of 
dots,  often  brought  into  relief  by  the  production  of  proud  flesh  after  the  operation  has  been 
accomplished,  are  the  three  forms  which,  in  different  combinations,  serve  as  marks  of  individual 
distinction.  The  men  tattoo  themselves  differently,  and  some  of  them  abstain  from  the  operation 
altogether.  At  one  time  the  lines  run  across  the  breast  and  stomach  to  one  side  of  the  body;  at 
another,  they  are  limited  to  the  top  of  the  arm,  whilst  it  is  not  at  all  unusual  for  the  neck  and 
shoulder-blades  to  be  tattooed.  Besides  the  ornaments  already  mentioned,  the  toilette  of  a  Bongo 
lady  is  incomplete  without  the  masses  of  iron  and  copper  rings  that  she  is  accustomed  to  wear 
on  her  wrists  and  arms,  and,  more  especially,  on  her  ankles.  These  rings  clank  like  fetters 
as  she  walks,  and  even  from  a  distance  the  two  sexes  can  be  distinguished  by  the  character  of  the 
sound  that  accompanies  their  movements. 

"It  may  possibly  be  imagined,"  says  Schweinfurth,  "that  the  extremely  primitive  co\ering 
of  the  Bongo  women  irradiates  them  with  something  of  the  charm  of  Paradise;  but  a  very  limited 
acquaintance  will  soon  dispel  the  rapture  of  any  illusion  of  the  kind.  All  full-grown  women 
attain  such  an  astounding  girth  of  body,  and  acquire  such  a  cumbrous  superabundance  of  flesh, 
that  it  is  quite  impossible  to  look  at  them  without  observing  their  disproportion  to  the  men. 
Their  thighs  are  very  often  as  large  as  a  man's  chest,  and  their  measurement  across  the  hips  can 
hardly  fail  to  recall  the  picture  in  Cuvier's  Atlas  of  the  now  famous  '  Hottentot  Venus.'  Shapes 
developed  to  this  magnitude  are  no  longer  the  exclusive  privilege  of  the  Hottentots;  day  after 
day  I  saw  them  among  the  Bongo,  and  they  may  well  demand  to  be  technically  described  as 
'Steatopyga.'  In  certain  attitudes,  as,  for  instance,  when  they  are  carrying  their  heavy  water- 
jars  upon  their  heads,  they  seem  to  assume  the  shape  of  an  inverted  S.  To  their  singular  appear- 
ance their  long  switch  tail  of  bast  very  much  contributes,  and  altogether  the  profile  of  a  fat  Bongo 
woman  is  not  unlike  that  of  a  dancing  baboon.  I  can  vouch  for  it  that  women  who  weigh  twenty 
stone  are  far  from  scarce. ' ' 

Dr.  Livingstone,  however,  has  a  good  word  to  say  for  the  Bushmen;  "they  are  the  only  true 
nomads  to  be  found  in  the  country',"  he  writes;  "they  never  cultivate  the  soil  and  have  no 
domestic  animals  with  the  exception  of  some  miserable  dogs.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  they  are 
so  well  acquainted  with  the  habits  of  the  wild  animals  that  they  are  able  to  follow  them  in  their 
migrations,  to  surprise  them,  and  to  always  find  sustenance  for  themselves  in  the  hunting-field, 
keeping  within  bounds,  like  other  carniverous  animals,  the  otherwise  excessive  multiplication 
of  the  game.  To  this  flesh,  which  forms  their  principal  food,  they  add  roots,  beans  and  wild 
fruits  which  the  women  gather.     Those  who  inhabit  the  sandy  and  burning  plains  of  the  desert 


172 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


are  generally  drv  and  nervous  in  body,  capable  of  supporting  great  fatigue  and  of  enduring 
excessive  privations.  Many  of  them  are  short  of  stature,  without,  however,  displaying  the 
deformity  of  the  dwarfs.  Those  which  have  been  brought  to  Europe  have  been  chosen  for  their 
extreme  ugliness,  like  the  dogs  of  certain  peddlers,  and  the  notion  that  the  typical  Bushmen  have 
been  seen  in  England  is  about  as  exact  as  it  would  be  to  judge  the  English  race  if  the 
ugliest  specimens  had  been  selected  and  transported  to  Africa  as  specimens." 

It  was  during  these  first  travels  of  the  stout-hearted  Scotchman  that  he  arrived,  January  i6, 
1854,  at  the  court  of  King  Shinto,  on  the  Liba  River,  where  he  was  courteously  received  by  that 
chief,  and  where,  as  he  records,  he  saw  for  the  first  time  in  Africa  women  assisting  at  a  public 
assembh-.  These  were  the  ladies  of  the  court;  they  applauded  the  orators  by  clapping  their 
hands,  they  smiled  on  them,  and  King  Shinto  himself  repeatedly  turned  to  converse  with  them. 
Livingstone  adds,    ' '  I  hope  to  be  of  some  service  to  the  artistes  coiffeurs  of  Paris  and  London, 


Boys'  Sports,    Central   Africa. 


and  to  their  fair  clients,  by  reproducing  here  some  specimens  of  the  styles  of  hair-dressing  in 
favor  among  the  beauties  of  the  court  of  H.  M.  Shinte. "  The  very  effective  mode  affected  by 
the  standing  lady  in  this  illustration  is  only  a  variation  of  one  to  be  seen  elsewhere  in  Africa — ■ 
the  hair  divided  into  little  tresses,  which  are  each  carried  out  to  a  hoop  which  encircles  the  head 
something  like  the  halo  of  a  mediaeval  saint.  That  of  the  seated  figure  is  somewhat  more  con- 
ventional, a  species  of  diadem,  in  copper  or  some  other  metal,  from  beneath  which  the  hair  falls 
on  the  shoulders  in  carefully  curled  and  greased  ringlets. 

The  Victoria  Falls  of  the  Zambesi,  discovered  by  Livingstone  on  this  expedition,  fonn  one 
of  the  most  striking  scenes  in  the  physical  geography  of  the  universe.  They  are  called  by  the 
natives,  Mosiotunga,  or  "Smoke  sounds  there."  A  few  miles  to  the  east  of  where  the  Chobe 
joins  the  Zambesi,  the  latter — a  stream  of  a  thousand  yards  in  width — plunges  down  a  chasm, 
more  than  a  hundred  feet  deep,  formed  by  an  immense  crack  in  the  basaltic  rock,  at  right  angles 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED.  i73 

to  its  course,  and  is  then  carried  along  in  a  narrow  channel,  some  thirty  miles  in  the  same 
direction,  between  steep  basaltic  rocks,  scarce  a  hundred  feet  apart  from  each  other.  Livmgstone 
savs  "  \fter  havin-  proceeded  some  twenty  minutes  after  leavmg  Kalai,  we  perceived  the 
columns  of  vapor,  very  justly  called  smoke,  and  which,  at  the  distance  we  then  were-five  or 
six  miles-recalled  those  vast  conflagrations  of  pasture-lands  so  common  m  Africa.  These 
columns  were  five  in  number  and  were  moved  by  the  wind;  they  seemed  to  be  m  front  of  a 
ridce,  not  very  high,  and  of  which  the  summit  was  wooded.  From  the  place  where  we  were 
the  t^ps  of  these  columns  seemed  to  be  lost  in  the  clouds;  they  were  white  at  the  base  and 
darkened  as  thev  ascended,  which  tended  to  increase  their  resemblance  to  smoke  ansmg  froin 
the  earth.  All  the  surrounding  landscape  was  of  an  indescribable  beauty;  great  trees  of  varied 
colors   and    forms  fringed   the   banks  of  the  stream  and  the    islands,   each  with    its   peculiar 

characteristic  and  manv  of  them  covered  with  flowers Some  of  these  trees  resembled 

our  great  oaks;  there  were  others  like  elms  and  old  chestnut  trees  But  no  one  can  imagine 
the  beautv  of  this  scene,  judging  from  what  he  has  seen  in  England.  Never  before  had  t 
leen  seen  bv  Europeans;  but  the  angels  might  arrest  their  flight  to  contemplate  its  beauti^s^ 
Hills  from  a  hundred  to  a  hundred  and  thirty  yards  in  height,  covered  with  trees  which 
fp  ned  at  intervals  to  reveal  the  golden  color  of  the  soil,  bounded  the  ^-w  on  three  sides. 
All  that  was  needed  more  was  a  range  of  snowy  peaks  losing  themselves  on  ^^e  far  hon     „ 

Althou<.h  the  lower  region  of  the  Zambesi,  for  a  distance  of  at  least  three  hundred  miles 
front  Its  n^uth,  has  been  In  the  possession  nominally  of  the  Portuguese  since  the  beginning 
of     re  Sixteenth  century,  forming  the  captaincies  of  Rios  di  Senna,  Tete  -f  Q^^-^^^^  'f^ 
it  is  onlv  within  the  last  few  years,  through  the  explorations  of  Dr.  Livingstone,  Mr.  Oswell, 
Dr    kS,  Mr.  T.  Baines,  Mr.  }ames  Chapman,  Charles  Andersson  and  "f  ^.^^^P/^^^^";- 
travellers    that  we  have  obtained    anything    like   an    accurate   or   scientific  idea   of  this  vas 
etion   which  extends  from  8°  to  2i°  of  S.  lat.,  and   from  14°  to  37    of  E.  long.     The    otd 
kith  oT  what  maybe  considered  the  main  stream  (called  Leambye  m  its  upper  course)  from 
"  mouth  t  the  point  where   the   Leeba  River,  which  proceeds    from  Lake    Dilolo,  joins  1 
canrt   be   less   than    twelve   hundred   miles.     The  Zambesi  is  one  of  the  three  great  river 
ha     Ifford   a  water-way  into   the  heart  of  Africa  from  each  of  the  three  solid  sides  of  that 
Irelt  trSitle      On  the  north  is  the  river  of  the  past,  flowing  through  Ep'pt,  the  Nile;  on 
fie  I         that  of  the  possible  future,  the  Congo;  and  on  the  east,  the  htt  e-known  Zambe^^ 

Soutlof  the  great  fresh-water  lakes  of  the  Victoria  -^^^^.''''Tfif  v  milef  loutW 
Tancanvika     four   hundred    and  fifty    miles    long;    two    hundred    and    fift>    miles    south   ol 
lis    Sn  another   Lake  Nvassa,  discovered  by  Livingstone,  three  hundred  and  fifty  miles  m 
eSth      Lake  Nvassa  discharges  its  waters  through  the  river  Shir^,  flowing  south   into   the 
Zambesi   and  thi^s  bv  ascending  the  latter  river   it   is   possible    to   reach   the    sources   of  the 
nIic''  with  less  fatigue,  less  risk,  and  not  less  speed,  than  by  the  overland  trail  from  Zanzibar 
A   :ne"so,  along  this  lin,  one  is  within  a  short  march  of  that  o^her  J-    -te  which 
must  ever  be  re-arded    as    the    trunk-line    of  the  African  continent.     The  water-sUea 
?onlo"Ss  on  UirNvassa-Tanganyika  plateau.     This  is  the  stupendous  natural  highway  on 
which  so  much  of  the  future  of  East  Central  Africa  must  yet  depend. 

Tust  above  the  <.reat  Victoria  Falls  Livingstone  found  the  Makolos,  with  whom  he  dwelt 


'74 


The  Queen  Moeri. 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED.  i/S 

fevers  to  some  persons,   and  very  painful  wounds  to  all      The  house  ^eing  thus  floo^^ 
construction  of  the  roof  is  next  in  order.     The  diameter  of  this  is  much  greater  than  t  at  of  the 
wal      o    the  tower;  it  is  constructed  on  the  ground,  and  then  elevated  to  its  place  by  the  aid  of 
Trknds  and  nei^hb^rs.     A  palisade  of  reeds,  also  rough-cast,  is  constriicted  around  the  walls  of 
the  tower   at  the  distance  of  three  feet,  reaching  to  the  roof,  thus  providing  a  covered  galler>-  all 
ui  d    he  1  ou"e      It  was  in  this  gallery  that  the  travellers  slept,  and  not  in  the  l-^se  proper. 
The  doo  wavof  the  latter  was  somewhat  restricted  in  its  dimensions.-eighteen  inches  high, 
Sint'^w;  wide  afthe  base,  seventeen  in  the  middle  and  twelve  at  the  top^    It  was  difficult  to 
It  thVonch    and  there  being  no  other  opening  the  chamber  was  without  light  or  air 
^     rlT&l^V^Z^  among  themselves,  very  much  as  they  do  in  other  parts  of  the  world^  A 
little  "rl  would  be  'carried  on  the  shoulders  of  two  others,  spreading  her  arms.     She  would  be 
flwS  b^a  trani  of  others,  clapping  their  hands,  stopping  now  and  then  before  the  ^^^^^^ 
t^.rLrents   and  sin-in-.     Some  of  them  beat  time  on  a  piece  of  stretched  calf-skm,  others 
nroducTa  curious  sort  ofhnmming  which  served  as  a  ritornello  to  the  song.     Sometimes  th^ 
produced  a  curious  boi  «  pleasure  seemed  to  consist  m  imitating  the  works 

plaved  at  jumping  ^^^^^^^^^^^  ^STL^^L  little  pots,  had  little  feasts  among  them- 

is  attached  to  the  girdle  and  forms  the  petticoat      The  ^^^trons  add  to  t.i^       p  ^^ 

of  .he  Si.„ple  „fe  of  '^ ^^;y^:^X^,^t::£^t^ ^^J^,  I  sa«.„. 
was  in  the  region  west  of  Lake  Tanganyika,        in  ear  ^  country   life  is  a 

little  boys  shooting  at  grasshoppers  with  their  small  '^l^f^'^^ZT.LsfZTl.rs^^^^^^^  con- 
serious  matter,  and  the  play  of  the  children  is  an  ^!"'^^;^;;^°^  *^^^^^  ,,d  teadi  them  to 
struct  little  houses,  make  little  gardens,  catch  --J;  J^f  j^^f^^^^;    ^^''.^Litate  the  fire-arms 

eL^o-^:e^;:^:-aSTi^^ 

they  bombard  the  little  birds."  ,  ^c  ,u^  southern  extremity  of  Lake  Tanganyika- 

South  of  the  Lake  Moero-which  lies  west  of  the  ^""^J™;^  J  ^^^  Livingstone  stopped 
was  situated  the  court  of  a  chief  with  the  general  ^f^ ^^^^'^^^^^^^^^^^^  promises  and 

on  the  2ist  of  November,  1867,  and  the  5th  of  ^^^y  ^  ^^^^^.^J^'f^^l^^^^^  of  the  king's  appar- 
fair  words,  but  finding  always  some  inexplicable  obstacle  th  --  k,_^_  ^^^^^^^^  ^  ^  ^ 
entlv  friendly  desires.     On  the  24th  of  May  he  records  in  ^^^  joiirn  ^^^^^ 

hea^t-breaking  length  of  time  to  furnish  us  ^f  ;fl--"f;^Xa:tlriJtic^^^  One  of  the 

davs  of  postponement!"  Then  he  proceeds  to  narrate  a  ^l'^^^^^^'^  ^^  ^^,  ^ense  that 
chiefs,  an  old' man  named  Kapika,  had  just  sold  ^^^  y^^^^^^^^'^^  ZlLr.  aflonted  at  the 

she  hid  been  unfaithful  to  hhn.  AH  t^e  women  of  '^l^^^^l^Zln.M  side^  to  assure  them- 
.        idea  of  a  lady  of  her  rank  being  reduced  ^°     ^"^^  J^;  >  ^^^'^^      both  hands  in  token  of  their 

selves  of  the  fact,  and,  when  convinced,  f^^Velcied  the  liveliest  svmpathy;  she  received 

indignation  and  sorrow.     The  -f  ^^^^  ^jtuXrs  o   K^^ 

many  presents  of  food  and  ^^^^f  ^^^f^;^ ^^ ^fpr  ^  o^  two'slaves;  another  offered  the  price 

and  bananas.     One  man  offered  to  bu>  her  at  the  pr  ^  ^^^  ^^^  accused- 

of  three,  but  Casemb6-who  was  very  severe  towards  the  crime 


176 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


declared  that  the  price  of  ten  slaves  should  not  purchase  her,  and  that  she  must  be  sent  away. 
Livingstone  adds,  that  he  probably  feared  to  condone  the  offense  on  account  of  his  own  wife,  the 
handsome  Moeri. 

This  queen  occupied  herself  much  of  the  time  in  the  cultivation  of  tapioca,  sorghum,  potatoes 
and  other  vegetables,  and  frequently  went  to  her  plantations.  "This  morning,"  says  Living- 
stone, "she  passed  close  by  us,  on  her  way  to  construct  a  hut  in  one  of  her  fields.  She  was 
carried  as  usual  by  a  dozen  men  in  a  species  of  palanquin,  and  preceded  by  a  number  of  servants 
running  before  her  and  brandishing  sabres  and  hatchets,  these  preceded  in  their  turn  by  a  sort  of 
drummer,  striking  on  his  hollow  instrument  to  clear  the  way.  Queen  Moeri  has  an  agreeable  coun- 
tenance, quite  European;  the  skin  is  fine,  clear  brown  in  color;  a  joyous  laugh — in  fact,  she  would 
be  admired  anywhere.  Two  enormous  pipes  lay  beside  her  ready  for  smoking.  I  stopped  for  the 
purpose  of  seeing  her;  when  she  was  near,  she  turned  her  umbrella  and  commenced  laughing,  in 
remembrance  of  our  first  interview,  and  she  laughed,  not  only  with  her  lips,  but  also  with  her 
eyes  and  her  cheeks.  '  Yammbof  she  said  to  me, — '  How  do  you  do?'  '  Yammbo  sana^^  '  Verj- 
well,  thank  you,'  I  replied.  Being  somewhat  lower  than  she,  I  was  able  to  see  that  she  had  a  small 
hole  in  the  cartilage  of  the  point  of  the  nose,  which  was  delicately  aquiline,  and  the  two  incisors 

of  the  middle  of  the  upper  jaw  filed 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  leave  a  tri- 
angular space  between  them." 

East  of  Lake  Tanganyika,  about 
halfway  between  it  and  the  coast, 
Stanley — in  his  search  for  Living- 
stone— found  another  of  these  supe- 
rior races  that  excite  the  admiration 
of  the  explorer.  Physically  and  mor- 
ally', he  thought,  the  Ugogo  were 
superior  to  all  the  tribes  that  he  had 
seen;  they  had  in  their  aspect  even 
something  leoiiine,  their  counten- 
ances were  intelligent,  their  eyes 
large  and  widely  open.  Though 
their  noses  were  flat  and  their  lips 
thick,  they  were  not  of  the  gross 
formation  of  these  features  in  the 
ordinary  negro.  Though  he  be 
violent,  capable  of  any  excess  when 
under  the  dominion  of  passion,  there 
is  still  something  attractive  in  the  Ugogo, — "he  is  proud  of  his  chief,  proud  of  his  arid  and 
unbeautiful  country,  proud  of  himself,  of  his  arms,  of  his  exploits,  of  all  that  appertains  to  him. 
He  is  vain,  swaggering,  egotistical,  domineering,  but  capable  of  affection  and  devotion.  He  will 
give  himself  great  trouble  to  oblige  his  friend;  yet  the  trait  of  his  character  which  places  him 
in  the  most  unfavorable  aspect,  in  the  eyes  of  the  traveller,  is  his  eagerness  for  gain."  His  arms 
are  made  with  a  great  deal  of  skill.  They  consist  of  a  bow  and  sharp  arrows,  skilfully  barbed, 
of  a  couple  of  assegais,  of  a  lance,  the  iron  of  which,  more  than  two  feet  in  length,  resembles  the 
blade  of  a  sabre,  of  a  war-hatchet  and  of  a  small  mace,  called  roungoii.  Exercised  in  the  use  of 
these  arms  from  infancy,  at  the  age  of  fifteen  he  is  an  accomplished  warrior. 

The  habitations  of  the  Ugogo,  like  those  of  many  of  the  surrounding  tribes,  are  disposed 
around  the  four  sides  of  an  area  which  they  completely  enclose,  and  on  which  all  the  doors 
open — this  is  the  tembt.  On-the  terrace,  which  forms  the  roof,  are  disposed  the  grain,  the  hay, 
the  tobacco,  the  pumpkins  and  other  stores.  In  the  exterior  wall  are  small  openings  which 
serve  at  once  for  peep-holes  and  for  loop-holes.  Among  the  Ugogo  this  building  is  very  fragile; 
it  is  only  a  basket-work,  covered  with  a  species  of  clay,  with  three  or  four  stakes  sustaining  the 
small  beams  on  which  are  supported  the  rafters  that  carry  the  roof.  A  musket-ball  would  pierce 
clear  through  these  frail  walls;  but  among  the  Uhyanzi  they  are  of  much  greater  solidity  and 
become    a  veritable  defense.     Each   apartment,   separated    from    its   neighbor  by  a   partition, 


The  Tembe,  seen  from  above. 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED.  177 

shelters  a  household  in  which  the  children  sleep  on  skins,  placed  on  the  floor,  and  the  parents 
on  a  bed  made  of  ox-hide  or  of  the  bark  of  a  tree  stretched  on  a  frame  and  which  is  called 
Kitamba.  A  species  of  brown  rats,  having  singularly  long  heads,  infest  these  tembes.  Among 
the  domestic  animals,  cats,  cows  and  sheep  are  only  allowed  within  the  enclosure,  the  dogs  and 
bulls  are  compelled  to  keep  outside. 

It  was  in  1875  that  Stanley  first  visited,  on  the  north  shore  of  Lake  Victoria  N'yanza,  King 
Mtesa,  whom  he  found  a  dignified,  comparatively  civilized  monarch,  totally  different  from  the 
frivolous,  sanguinary  despot  which  Speke  had  pictured  him.  "I  see  in  IMtesa,"  he  wrote  in  his 
journal,  the  evening  of  his  presentation  to  the  king,  "a  prince  worthy  of  the  sympathies  of 
Europe."  And  he  describes  him  in  these  terms:  "Mtesa  is  of  tall  stature,  six  feet  and  an  inch,  I 
should  think.  He  is  slender ;  his  skin  is  of  a  reddish  brown  and  of  extraordinary  fineness. 
His  countenance  breathes  intelligence ;  his  features,  which  are  agreeable,  remind  me  of  those  of 
the  colossus  of  Thebes  and  of  the  statues  which  are  in  the  museum  of  Cairo.  There  is  the  same 
fulness  of  the  lip,  but  relieved  by  the  expression  of  the  visage,  at  once  affable  and  dignified, 
and  by  the  strange  beauty  of  the  large  eyes,  at  once  brilliant  and  soft,  characteristic  of  the  race 
from  which  I  believe  him  sprung." 

The  capital  of  this  admirable  monarch  is  thus  described:  "We  saw,  crowning  the  rounded 
summit  of  a  hill,  a  considerable  group  of  large  habitations,  in  the  midst  of  which  appeared 
a  vast  building  resembling  a  granary.  The  hill  was  called  Roubaga;  the  vast  edifice  was  the 
palace ;  the  group  of  houses,  the  capital  of  Mtesa.  From  the  high  palisade  of  reeds,  which 
surrounded  the  city,  radiated  great  avenues  of  an  imperial  width.  Arrived  at  the  foot  of 
Roubaga,  and  crossing  b)'  means  of  a  causeway  formed  of  trunks  of  trees,  a  marshy  space,  we 
came  out  upon  one  of  these  avenues,  of  which  the  soil  was  composed  of  a  reddish  clay,  mixed 
with  the  detritus  of  hematites.  This  avenue,  a  hundred  feet  in  width,  conducted  us  by  a 
gentle  incline  to  the  circular  way  which  followed  the  exterior  of  the  enclosure.  There  we 
saw  that  our  great  street  was  only  a  secondary  approach.  In  front  of  us  opened  the  avenue 
of  honor  between  two  lines  of  habitations  appertaining  to  the  grandees  of  state,  and  buried 
in  groves  of  bananas  and  fig  trees.  It  was  on  this  side  that  opened  the  throne-room,  and 
from  which  could  be  seen  the  most  beautiful  views  of  the  capital,  so  rich  in  splendid  distances." 

After  a  brief  visit  at  this  court,  Stanley  completed  his  voyage  on  Lake  Victoria  and  explored 
the  coiuitry  lying  immediately  west  of  it,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  great  West  Lake,  due  north 
of  Lake  Tanganyika,  and  within  sight  of  the  loft}-  triple  peaks  of  Mount  Ufumbiro.  Rumors 
had  reached  him  of  the  celebrated  hot  springs  of  Mtagata,  and  he  secured  the  sersnces  of 
some  of  the  natives  as  guides  to  the  locality.  At  nine  o'clock  one  morning  their  route  terminated 
by  a  gentle  descent  into  the  gorge  in  which  these  springs  were  situated,  a  gorge  shaded  b>- 
gigantic  trees.  The  thick  foliage,  joined  to  the  multitude  of  shrubs,  bushes  and  lianes,  com- 
pletely shut  out  the  rays  of  the  sun,  and  produced  a  strange  twilight.  Troops  of  large  baboons 
and  of  long-tailed  monkeys  bellowed  and  chattered  in  these  shades,  agitating  the  trees  and 
shaking  down  the  leaves  as  they  pursued  each  other  from  branch  to  branch.  The  basins, 
which  are  from  ten  to  twelve  feet  in  diameter,  and  from  two  to  five  in  depth,  are  six  in  number; 
their  temperature  is  110°  Fahr.  They  were  surrounded  by  bathers  from  all  the  surrounding 
country,  who  arrive  daily  in  crowds,  and  who  fill  the  air  with  songs,  music  and  shouts  of 
laughter  from  morning  to  night.  Those  affected  with  skin  diseases  find  themselves  promptly 
benefited,  but  Stanley  thought  that  the  amelioration  probably  proceeded  from  the  exceptional 
cleanliness  resulting  from  the  bath,  rather  than  from  any  medicinal  virtue  in  the  waters.  As 
for  himself,  he  records  that  he  drank  of  the  water,  and  bathed  in  it  himself  with  delight, 
but  experienced  no  other  result  than  an  access  of  his  fever,  which  he  attributed  to  tlie  humidity 
of  the  atmosphere. 

On  his  southward  march  the  explorer  devoted  con.siderable  time  to  the  circumnavigation  of 
Lake  Tanganyika,  the  immense  fresh-water  sheet  discovered  by  Speke  and  Burnton  in  1858, 
when  they  arrived  on  its  eastern  shore  at  Ujiji,  about  lat.  5°  S.  Stanley  found  the  shores 
generally  picturesque,  wooded  and  mountainous,  and  the  water  very  deep.  All  the  southern 
shore,  from  Mommb^te  to  Roufouvon,  is  regarded  by  the  natives  as  sacred  soil.  Each  of  its 
reefs,  its  woods,  its  frowning  capes,  each  one  of  its  gorges,  is  haunted  by  a  spirit.  Indescribable 
beings,  engenrl^red  by  fear,  govern  all  the  scene.     Every  accident  that  happens  in  the  neighbor- 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED.  179 

hood  of  these  shores  is  accepted  as  an  additional  proof  of  the  malice  and  power  of  these  evil 
genii.  The  three  table-mountain^  shown  in  the  engraving,  which  rise  a  little  to  the  north 
of  the  terminal  south-west  bay  of  the  lake,  are  the  residences  of  three  momimous^  more 
powerful  than  any  of  the  others.  These  strange  mountains,  which  were  formerly  part  of  the  > 
plateau,  lift  themselves  to  the  height  of  twelve  hundred  feet  above  the  lake.  They  are 
separated  from  each  other  by  a  space  of  about  two  miles.  The  first  is  known  as  Mtommboua, 
the  second  as  Kateye,  the  third  as  Kapemmboua.  The  spirits  which  inhabit  the  summits 
are  united  by  close  ties  of  relationship;  Katdye  is  the  son  of  Kapemmboua  and  Mtommboua, 
the  Jupiter  and  Juno  of  the  region.  All  three  of  them  rule  over  the  winds  and  the  waves. 
In  passing  by  their  bases  the  voyagers  were  struck  with  the  grandeur  of  their  perpendicular 
cliffs,  each  terrace  of  which  is  marked  by  a  line  of  foliage.  From  Kapemmboua,  the  most 
elevated  of  the  three,  and  the  most  massive,  to  Cape  Polommboue,  farther  north  on  the 
western  shore,  the  edge  of  the  plateau,  cumbered  with  great  rocks  half  buried  in  foliage, 
rises  in  a  rapid  ascent  to  the  height  of  thirteen  hundred  feet  above  the  lake,  and  terminates 
in  a  perpendicular  cliff  two  hundred  feet  high.  Notwithstanding  the  steepness  of  these 
hills,  they  are  cultivated  up  to  a  very  considerable  height. 

From  Tanganyika  Stanley  struck  westward,  after  long  hesitation,  into  a  perfectly  unknown 
country,  and  came  out  after  traversing  an  almost  impassable  forest  on  the  upper  waters  of 
the  Congo,  or  Livingstone  River,  which  he  at  first  was  inclined  to  think  was  possibly  the 
Nile.  But  the  volume  of  its  waters  seemed  to  contradict  this  supposition.  The  descent  of 
the  river  to  its  mouth  was  attended  with  innumerable  obstacles,  cataracts  to  pass,  portages  to 
make,  and  the  almost  unvarying  hostility  of  the  natives.  On  the  19th  of  January,  1877,  the 
expedition  reached  the  fifth  cataract,  at  23'  south  of  the  Equator,  the  river  flowing  due  north 
in  its  general  direction.  On  the  Equator  it  turns  to  the  north-west.  A  few  hours  later,  on 
the  scarped  bank  of  the  left  shore,  they  arrived  at  a  cavern  a  hundred  feet  in  depth,  a  natural 
grotto,  hollowed  in  a  rock  of  porphyry  by  the  action  of  the  water.  On  the  exterior  were 
various  figures  traced  by  the  natives,  and,  following  their  example,  Stanley  engraved  upon  the 
rock  the  name  of  the  expedition  and  the  date  of  its  passage. 

At  the  distance  of  two  miles  from  this  cavern  were  the  ten  islands  of  Kabommbo,  and  two 
miles  farther  still  could  be  discerned  the  distant  sound  of  a  cataract,  of  which  their  prisoners 
had  informed  them.  The  camp  was  established  on  the  right  bank,  at  the  distance  of  two 
hundred  fathoms  from  a  populous  island  inhabited  by  the  Vouana-Roukouar.  Very  soon  the 
war-cry,  mingled  with  the  sound  of  horns  and  drums,  announced  the  approach  of  the  natives, 
and  it  required  an  hour's  hard  fighting  to  beat  them  off.  After  them  came  the  islanders,  in 
their  turn,  and  when  they  were  repulsed  also,  the  work  of  preparing  the  route  for  carrying 
the  canoes  overland  was  begun.  Four  days  afterwards,  they  were  below  the  sixth  cataract,  and 
four  miles  north  of  the  Equator.  The  next  day,  following  the  course  of  a  narrow  canal  which 
separated  an  extremely  picturesque  island  from  a  low  shore  covered  with  mangroves,  the  noise 
of  the  seventh  falls  was  heard,  mingled  as  before  with  the  sound  of  drums  and  trumpets.  Then 
followed  new  combats,  new  land  transportation.  Here  the  shores  of  the  river  are  not  farther 
apart  than  twelve  hundred  metres,  of  which  nearly  seven  hundred  are  occupied  by  an  island. 
Thus  contracted,  the  stream  runs  furiously  between  its  abrupt  boundaries,  and  the  rocky  cliffs 
of  the  island  detach  boulders  which  roll  with  an  irresistible  velocity  into  the  water,  forming 
waves  that  surge  one  after  the  other  upon  the  shore  with  a  veritable  rage.  The  issue  of  the 
Nile,  at  the  Ripon  Falls,  is  a  tame  affair  to  these  rapids  in  which  a  river  with  ten  times  the 
volume  is  restrained  in  the  same  place.  ' 

The  middle  of  the  stream  is  absolutely  unnavigable;  but  on  each  shore,  to  the  width  of 
some  twentv-five  yards,  the  Vou^nya  have  succeeded  in  planting  some  very  strong  piles  to 
which  they  have  attached  enormous  weirs  in  basket-work.  Every  day  sixty  or  seventy  of 
these  baskets  are  set  on  the  borders  of  the  cataract,  and  not  without  benefit,  as  some  of  Stanley's 
men,  having  taken  up  some  half  a  dozen  of  them,  captured  no  less  than  twenty-eight  big  fish, 
one  of  which  weighed  seventeen  pounds.  On  the  26th,  there  was  more  drawing  of  the  canoes 
overland;  on  the  day  after,  three  combats.  Finally,  on  the  28th,  at  ten  o'clock  in  the  mornmg, 
the  last  of  the  Stanley  Falls  was  passed,  and  the  wears'  voyagers  found  themselves  afloat  on  a 
macrnificent  stream,  whose  calm  waters  seemed  to  invite  them  to  follow  its  mysterious  course. 


1 80 


The  Hot  Springs  of  Mtagata. 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


i»i 


But  if  the  river  was  eugaging,  the  inhabitants  of  the  country  continued  to  be  hostile.  When 
the  expedition  wished  to  land,  the  natives  opposed  them;  they  reached  the  island  of  Ukioba, 
where  they  were  again  attacked  and  obliged  to  defend  themselves.  The  day  after,  the  combat 
had  continued  four  hours,  when,  having  succeeded  in  landing,  they  saw  the  Itouka  "throw 
themselves  like  buffaloes"  on  their  stockade,  where,  luckily,  they  were  in  safety.  The  river 
was  here  four  miles  in  width ;  its  banks  being  still  extremely  populous.  The  middle  of  the  stream 
was  taken  to  avoid  the  inhabitants,  but  the  islands  became  numerous,  and  from  each  of  them 
arose  the  "infernal  din"  that  announced  the  pursuit.  "We  commenced  to  get  weary  of  this 
chase,"  says  the  leader;  "weary  of  being  bayed  each  day  by  these  ghouls,  of  having  to  sacrifice 
some  of  our  number  to  their  monstrous  appetite  or  to  bum  our  cartridges;  our  anger  mounted. 

"  We  arrived  in  this  way,  the  ist  of  February,  at  an  outlandish  place  near  which  was  a  group 
of  small  canoes,  which  did  not  hesitate  to  attack  us.  They  retreated  at  the  first  shots,  but  the 
drums  alarmed  the  whole  country.  We  were  then  at  50'  17"  north  of  the  equator.  Two  hours 
later  we  ascended  the  mouth  of  a  stream  eighteen  hundred  metres  in  width,  that  of  the  Arou- 
houimi.  Scarcely  had  we  entered  when  we  perceived  a  great  number  of  canoes  around  the 
islands  which  studded  the  river.  We  steered  in  all  haste  for  the  right  bank;  a  flotilla  of  canoes, 
which,  in  their  dimensions,  exceeded  anything  that  we  had  yet  seen,  bore  down  upon  us.  I 
immediately  caused  all  our  boats  to  be  ranged  in  line,  two  by  two,  each  couple  at  about  nine 
yards  from  the  others,  and  I  directed  them  all  to  anchor.  The  number  of  the  enemy's  canoes 
was  fifty-four.  One  of  them  had  on  each  side  forty  rowers,  who  paddled  standing,  to  the  sound 
of  a  barbaric  chant, — it  was  this  one  which  led  the  fleet.  At  the  bow  was  a  platform  on  which 
were  ten  young  warriors  wearing  crimson  plumes  of  the  red-tailed  parrot;  at  the  stern  were  eight 
men  who  directed  the  course  of  the  vessel  by  means  of  long  paddles.  Between  these  two  groups, 
ten  personages,  who  seemed  to  be  chiefs,  were  executing  a  war-dance.  All  the  paddles  were 
surmounted  with  ivory  balls;  all  the  arms  were  adorned  with  rings  of  ivorj-,  which  each  move- 
ment made  to  glisten;  all  the  heads  were  crowned  with  plumes. 

"The  deafening  noise  of  the  drums,  of  the  hundred  trumpets  of  ivory,  the  chant  of  two 
thousand  savage  voices,  were  not  altogether  calculated  to  quiet  our  nerves, — but  we  had  not 
leisure  to  consider  them.  The  great  canoe  headed  straight  for  us,  and  the  others,  following 
hard,  made  the  foam  fly  before  their  bows. 

"  'Steady,  boys!     Wait  for  the  first  shot,  and,  after  that,  aim  straight! 

"The  monster  canoe  rushed  for  the  '  Lady  Alice,'  as  though  she  wished  to  run  her  down, 
but  at  the  distance  of  twenty-five  fathoms  she  veered,  and  poured  in  a  volley  of  lances.  All  the 
other  noises  were  drowned  in  the  reports  of  the  fire-arms.  Absorbed  in  the  great  canoe  we  could 
not  know  what  was  taking  place  elsewhere,  but  at  the  end  of  five  minutes  we  saw  the  enemy 
draw  otf,  and  re-form  his  line  at  the  distance  of  a  hundred  fathoms  up  the  river.  By  this  time 
our  blood  was  up;  we  lifted  our  anchors  and  pursued  them.  At  a  turn  of  the  river  we  saw  their 
village,  where  they  had  landed;  we  gained  the  shore  in  our  turn;  there  was  a  fight  in  the  streets, 
from  which  we  drove  them  furiously,  and  it  was  not  until  they  had  disappeared  in  the  woods 
that  we  sounded  the  retreat. 

"While  I  was  calling  the  roll  of  my  men,  one  of  them  came  to  me  and  said  that  there  was  a 
church  of  \\ory  in  the  village,  and  that  everywhere  ivory  seemed  to  be  as  plentiful  as  wood.  A 
moment  later  I  was  in  front  of  the  church,  a  simple  shed,  of  which  the  tall  conical  roof  was 
supported  by  thirty-three  elephants'  tusks,  and  shaded  a  large  statue,  four  feet  in  height.  The 
idol  was  painted  of  a  lively  red,  and  had  black  eyes,  a  beard  and  hair.  My  Vouangouana 
received  permission  to  carry  away  the  pillars  of  ivory,  and  they  gathered  up,  in  addition,  more 
than  a  hundred  pieces  in  the  shape  of  coins,  trumpets,  drum-sticks,  mallets,  bowls,  armlets,  etc. 
The  number  of  carved  paddle-handles,  of  superb  daggers  with  elaborate  scabbards,  of  waist-belts 
of  buffalo  or  antelope  skin,  of  lances,  barbed  and  otherwise,  the  pinchers,  hammers,  hatchets, 
bodkins,  hoes,  hair-pins,  bells,  bracelets  and  iron  beads,  proved  that  the  inhabitants  of  the 
shores  of  the  Arouhouimi  were  more  advanced  in  the  arts  than  any  that  we  had  yet  encountered 
along  the  Livingstone.  Idols,  both  large  and  small,  double  benches,  stools  of  a  most  ingenious 
form,  the  ornamentation  of  canes,  paddles,  handles,  flutes,  drums,  mortars,  mallets,  trays,  spoons, 
gourds,  revealed  a  decided  talent  for  sculpture.  The  pottery  was  of  a  superior  order,  the  pipes 
of  a  model  unknown  to  us;  everything  in  this  village  testified  to  the  prosperity  and  the  remark- 


,82  AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 

able  intelligence  of  the  inhabitants.  On  the  other  hand,  the  proofs  of  cannibalism  were  numerous; 
human  skulls  grimaced  from  a  number  of  perches,  and  fragments  of  human  bones  were  to  be 
seen  among  the  debris  of  the  cooking,  even  down  to  the  banks  of  the  river. 

"  Reembarked  at  five  o'clock,  we  were  soon  again  in  the  main  stream,  where  we  anchored  at 
fiftv  yards  from  the  shore.  But  whatever  was  our  need  of  repose,  prudence  recommended  that 
we  should  not  delay  too  long  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Arouhouimi,  and  we  started  again. 
.\lmost  immediately  the  shore  was  again  covered  with  savages,  uttering  their  war-cries,  beating 
drums  and  indulging  in  frantic  gestures.  We  hastened  onwards  at  our  utmost  speed — like  the 
stag,  who,  having  distanced  the  pack,  exhausted,  at  the  end  of  his  courage,  hears  the  dreadful 
voice  of  the  bloodhounds  who  have  regained  his  scent.  We  had  fought  night  and  day,  dispersed 
the  enemy,  escaped  his  blows  by  our  vigilance;  we  had  delivered  our  twenty-eighth  combat,  and 
not  yet  recovered  our  breath,  and  from  every  curve  of  the  river  issued  anew  the  menaces  of  death 
in  every  form.  We  were  completely  exhausted;  there  were  not  amongst  us  thirty  who  were  not 
at  least  wounded.  To  continue  this  life  was  impossible;  some  day  we  shall  lie  down  offering 
our  throats  to  the  cannibals,  like  sheep  to  the  butcher." 

In  this  perilous  fashion  the  descent  of  the  river  continued;  the  number  of  battles  amounted  to 
thirty-two,  and  to  the  losses  in  killed  and  wounded  were  added  the  perils  of  starvation  and  the 
incessant  pangs  of  hunger.  Fortunately,  at  the  last  moment,  when  the  supplies  of  the  expedi- 
tion were  quite  exhausted,  some  more  peaceable  tribes -would  be  met,  which,  in  consideration  of 
the  offer  of  various  tempting  presents,  and  the  most  ingenious  pantomime  suggestive  of  hunger, 
would  consent  to  sell  food  to  the  strangers.  After  the  hostility  of  the  natives  ceased,  that  of  the 
river  commenced;  the  region  of  the  great  cataracts  was  only  passed  with  infinite  labor  and 
danger,  and  with  the  entire  loss  of  one  boat  and  its  occupants.  Some  idea  of  the  difficulties 
attending  these  portages  may  be  obtained  from  the  engraving  representing  that  around  the 
falls  of  Innkissi.  The  natives  were  a  tribe  of  the  Babonennde,  fortunately  friendly,  living  on 
the  shores  of  the  little  bay  of  Nkennke.  In  thirty-seven  days  the  expedition  had  made  twenty- 
four  miles.  The  inhabitants  declared  that  the  river  had  only  one  more  cataract,  but  that  that  one 
was  frightful.  In  these  Innkissi  Falls,  the  stream  does  not  leap  from  one  height,  but,  restrained 
within  a  narrow  gorge,  not  more  than  four  hundred  and  fifty  yards  in  width,  it  torments  itself 
into  a  fury  of  whirlpools,  breakers  and  rapids  over  a  space  of  two  miles. 

The  friendly  Babonennde,  curious  to  see  what  the  strangers  were  going  to  do,  crowded  about 
them  asking  questions.  "  Take  the  canoes  out  of  the  water,  and  carry  them  up  on  the  plateau," 
Stanley  answered.  "On  the  plateau!"  thev  repeated,  in  amazement,  lifting  their  eyes  to  the 
steep  sides  of  the  mountain  covered  with  trees  and  bristling  with  rocks;  and,  clambering  hastily 
up  the  twelve  hundred  feet  of  height,  they  proceeded  to  gather  into  their  enclosure  their  domestic 
animals,  black  pigs,  goats  and  chickens,  repeating  everywhere  among  themselves  that  the  white 
man  was  going  to  make  his  boats  fl\-  over  the  mountain.  By  the  evening  of  the  next  day  a  road 
of  fourteen  hundred  yards  in  length  was  opened  through  the  forest;  the  next  day  the  "  Lady 
Alice"  and  a  little  canoe  had  reached  the  summit  of  the  mountain.  This  was  accomplished 
without  much  difficulty,  and  the  native  chiefs,  filled  with  admiration,  consented  to  furnish  six 
hundred  men  to  aid  in  the  work  of  pulling  up  the  others.  In  ten  days  after  entering  the  bay  of 
Nkennk(!,  the  entire  fleet  was  on  the  summit. 

On  the  9th  of  August,  1877,  nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine  days  after  leaving  Zanzibar, 
the  expedition,  reduced  by  losses,  starvation  and  fatigue,  set  out  on  its  last  march  towards 
M'Bomnia,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Congo.  On  the  way  they  encountered  a  line  of  hammocks 
and  four  Europeans,  who  were  coming  to  meet  them  in  response  to  Stanley's  appeal  for  help, 
which  he  had  sent  on  to  the  coast  a  few  davs  before.  The  wearv  travellers  were  welcomed,  fed 
and  clothed;  but  their  leader  records  that  the  strange  lassitude  which  fell  on  them  all,  now  that 
all  need  for  exertion  was  over,  was  almost  as  fatal  as  the  perils  of  the  march.  His  faithful 
followers  could  not  be  roused  even  by  the  hope  of  returning  to  their  far-distant  homes  in  Zanzi- 
bar; eight  of  them  died  of  this  weariness,  four  at  Loanda,  three  on  board  the  vessel  which  carried 
them  to  the  Cape,  the  eight  on  arriving  at  Zanzibar.  But  even  in  their  last  moments  they  were 
consoled  by  the  thought  of  what  they  had  done;  they  repeated  incessantly,  even  in  dying,  "We 
have  brought  the  Master  to  the  great  ocean;  he  has  seen  again  his  white  brothers.  La  il  Allah 
il  Allah!" 


Mounts  Mtommboua,  Kateye  and  Kapehmboua,  Lake  Tanganyi: 


1 84 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


Stanley's  Fight  at  the  Junction  of  the  Congo  with  the  Arouhouimi. 


This  intrepid  explorer,  who  has  gained  new  laurels  by  his  second  journey  across  the  African 
continent,  this  time  from  west  to  east  and  by  a  more  northerly  route  than  that  of  the  tremendous 
march  just  sketched,  is  by  birth  a  Welshman,  and  was  baptized  John  Rowlands.  From  a  recent 
biography  of  him  we  learn  that  "when  he  was  thirteen  years  old  he  was  turned  loose  to  take 
care  of  himself.  Young  though  he  was,  he  was  ambitious  and  well-informed.  As  a  lad  he 
taught  school  in  the  village  of  Mold,  Flintshire.  Getting  tired  of  this,  he  made  his  way  to 
Liverpool,  when  he  was  about  fourteen  years  of  age,  and  there  shipped  as  cabin-boy  on  board  a 
sailing-vessel  bound  to  New  Orleans.  There  he  fell  in  with  a  kindly  merchant,  a  Mr.  Stanley, 
who  adopted  him  and  gave  him  his  name.  Mr.  Stanley  died  before  Henry  came  of  age,  leaving 
no  will,  and  the  lad  was  again  left  to  shift  for  himself.  He  lived  in  New  Orleans  until  1861, 
when  he  was  twenty-one  years  of  age.  Then  the  civil  war  broke  out  and  he  went  into  the 
Confederate  army." 

The  year  before  Stanley  arrived  on  the  west  coast,  another  Englishman  had  succeeded  in 
crossing  the  continent,  starting  likewise  from  Zanzibar,  but  coming  out  farther  south,  at 
Benguela.  This  was  Lieut.  Verney  Hovett  Cameron,  an  officer  in  H.  M.  S.  Star,  cruising  on 
the  eastern  coast  of  Africa,  and  whose  desire  to  be- of  some  service  in  suppressing  the  odious 
slave  traffic  first  led  his  thoughts  to  the  possibility  of  visiting  the  interior.  He  left  England 
the  30th  of  November,  1872;  started  on  his  long  march  from  Bagamoyo,  on  the  Zanzibar 
coast,  and  proceeded  nearly  due  west  to  Lake  Tanganyika,  which  he  struck  among  the  Ujiji, 
on  the  fifth  degree  of  south  latitude.  All  the  southern  and  middle  shores  of  this  sheet  of 
water  were  visited  by  his  boats,  and  leaving  the  western  side  of  the  lake  at  Kasemdje  he 
proceeded  north-westerly  to  Nyangwe,  on  the  upper  Congo.  Instead  of  embarking  on  this 
river  to  follow  it  down  to  its  mouth,  as  Stanley  did  later,  Cameron  then  directed  his  course 
due  south  to  Lake  Kassali,  the  southernmost  and  largest  of  the  chain  of  small  lakes  that 
extend  north-east  and  south-west  about  two  hundred  miles  west  of  Tanganyika.  From  here 
his  course  lay  south-west  to  the  Benguela  coast.  It  was  while  still  east  of  Lake  Tanganyika 
that  he  received  news  of  the  death  of  Livingstone,  the  search  for  whom  was  one  of  the  objects 
of  his  expedition.     Cameron  was  at  that  time  suffering  with  the  African  fever,  and  he  relate.' 


& 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED.  185 

that  when  the  letter  containing  the  fatal  news  was  brought  to  him,  his  mind  was  so  much 
affected  by  his  illness  that  he  was  unable  to  understand  its  contents.  His  companion,  Dr. 
Dillon,  to  whom  he  showed  the  message,  was  in  no  better  condition,  and  after  perusing  it 
several  times,  the  only  conclusion  they  could  arrive  at  was  that  their  father  was  dead.  Dr. 
Dillon,  not  long  afterwards,  committed  suicide  with  his  own  pistol,  while  in  the  delirium  of 
this  fever.  He  was  then  on  his  return  to  the  coast,  Cameron  having  concluded  to  prosecute 
the  enterprise  which  Livingstone  had  hoped  to  carry  out,  and  to  proceed  westward. 

His  experiences  of  the  Manyema,  on  the  Upper  Congo,  were  much  those  of  Stanley.  His 
description  of  one  of  their  settlements  is  worth  quoting.  "In  all  the  Manyema  villages,  the 
houses,  of  a  rectangular  shape,  form  long  parallel  streets,  or  sometimes  radiate  from  a  central 
point.  At  each  end  of  the  public  way,  facing  on  the  middle  of  the  street,  is  a  larger  building, 
where  are  held  the  public  assemblies  which  discuss  municipal  affairs;  the  palm  trees  and  the 
granaries  are  arranged  along  the  median  line  of  the  street.  Handsome  villages;  but  before 
almost  every  house  there  is  a  pig  attached  to  one  of  the  door-posts,  and  the  smell  of  these 
animals,  of  the  filth,  the  decayed  fish,  etc.,  etc.,  combined  to  form  an  African  odor  that  may 
be  imagined." 

Proceeding  southwards  from  the  country  of  the  Mam-ema,  the  route  of  the  expedition 
led  first  through  a  hilly  and  thickly  wooded  country,  where  the  villages,  large  in  size,  were 
yet  almost  hidden  in  the  dense  jungles,  and  were  attained  only  by  traversing  a  long,  narrow 
tunnel,  cut  through  the  brushwood,  and  so  low  that  it  could  only  be  passed  on  hands  and 
knees.  This  path  ends  at  a  species  of  fortification,  formed  by  the  trunks  of  trees  arranged 
in  the  shape  of  a  V,  the  point  towards  the  visitors.  In  case  of  hostilities  this  narrow  opening 
is  closed  by  a  heavy  portcullis,  so  that  the  enemy  may  not  force  the  entrance.  These  villages, 
nevertheless,  are  frequently  surprised  by  their  neighbors,  or  by  the  slave  traders,  during  the 
absence  of  their  warriors;  for  although  all  the  tribes  of  the  Urua  are  nominally  under  the 
authority  of  a  chief  named  Kassonngo,  they  are  very  often  in  a  state  of  war  with  each  other. 

The  third  stage  of  the  journey,  that  of  the  first  of  November,  1873,  brought  the  expedition 
in  view  of  Lake  Mohrya.  There  Cameron  had  a  dispute  with  a  native  guide  who  had  been 
furnished  him.  He  had  been  supplied  with  a  quantity  of  glass  beads  to  purchase  necessary 
food  from  the  inhabitants,  but,  having  been  attached  to  the  court,  he  considered  himself  entitled 
to  certain  prerogatives,  and  when  the  natives  arrived  with  their  provisions,  he  proceeded  to 
pillage  them  of  whatever  he  thought  fit.  On  being  remonstrated  with,  he  replied  that  when 
travelling,  it  was  the  custom  of  Kassonngo  and  his  followers  to  take  whatever  they  wanted,  and 
he  did  not  propose  to  renounce  any  of  his  right.  "If  you  think  these  things  are  stolen,"  he 
added,  "you  can  pay  for  them."  This  little  misunderstanding  having  been  arranged,  the  camp 
was  pitched  near  a  large  village  situated  near  the  western  end  of  the  lake.  This  piece  of  water 
occupies  the  bottom  of  a  small  basin,  surrounded  by  low  and  woody  hills.  The  surface  of  the 
lake  occupies  an  oval  space  about  two  miles  in  length  by  one  in  width.  Its  surface  was  dotted 
with  the  houses  of  the  natives,  three  long  straggling  villages  and  some  scattered  huts,  built  on 
piles.  Cameron  had  been  informed  of  these  lacustrine  habitations,  and  he  requested  the  chief 
of  the  land  village  to  procure  him  a  boat  in  which  he  might  visit  them.  The  chief  replied,  how- 
ever, that  he  would  endeavor  to  obtain  one  from  the  lake  inhabitants,  having  none  of  his  own, 
but  that  he  doubted  his  success,  the  people  of  the  lake  not  being  ver>'  fond  of  visitors.  In  this 
supposition  he  proved  to  be  correct,  and  Cameron  was  forced  to  content  himself  with  a  view 
through  the  telescope.  With  this  instrument  he  was  enabled  to  distinguish  the  manner  of  the 
construction  of  these  dwellings,  and  to  make  a  sketch  of  them.  Each  house  had  for  its  base  a 
platform  elevated  on  piles  some  six  feet  above  the  surface  of  the  water;  some  of  them  were 
oblong  and  others  circular  in  shape.  The  walls  and  the  roofs  seemed  to  be  similar  in  construc- 
tion to  those  on  the  land.  Under  the  platforms  the  canoes  were  kept,  attached  by  cords. 
Although  it  was  said  that  in  the  lake  were  found  enormous  serpents  whose  bite  was  fatal,  the 
natives  could  be  seen  going  from  one  house  to  another  by  swimming. 

These  people  have  no  other  habitations  than  these;  in  these  they  live  with  their  goats  and 
their  poultr}',  only  leaving  them  to  go  ashore  to  cultivate  their  fields  and  to  conduct  the  goats  to 
pasture.  Their  boats  are  a  kind  of  pirogue,  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  feet  in  length;  they  are 
managed  by  means  of  paddles  with  long  handles,  and  the  blades  of  which  are  hollowed,  large 


i86 


Portage  Around  the  Falls  of  Innkissi. 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED.  187 

and  circular.  Not  being  able  to  come  at  the  natives  by  water,  Cameron  attempted  to  converse 
with  some  of  them  who  were  cultivating  their  fields  on  the  shores;  but  as  soon  as  he  approached 
them  they  fled  to  their  pirogues  which  were  near,  and  put  out  into  the  lake.  He  attempted  to 
lure  them  back  by  showing  them  pearls  and  pieces  of  stuff,  but  quite  without  avail,  and  he  was 
forced  to  renounce  all  hopes  of  a  closer  acquaintance. 

All  the  region  is  divided  into  a  great  number  of  districts,  governed  each  one  by  a  kilolo  or 
captain.  Some  of  these  governors  have  a  hereditary  power;  others  are  appointed  for  a  term  of 
four  years.  At  the  expiration  of  this  term,  if  they  have  well  fulfilled  their  functions,  they  may  be 
reappointed,  either  for  the  same  district  or  for  another;  but  if  Kassonngo  is  not  content  with 
them,  he  cuts  oflF  their  noses,  their  ears  or  their  hands.  The  social  hierarchy  is  strongly 
established,  and  a  great  amount  of  deference  is  exacted  of  inferiors.  Cameron  relates  one  of 
the  numerous  examples  of  this  which  fell  under  his  own  observation.  A  man  of  good  standing 
in  talking  with  him  one  day,  seated  himself,  forgetting  that  one  of  his  superiors  was  present;  he 
was  immediately  taken  to  one  side  and  severely  lectured  on  the  enormity  of  his  offense.  The 
Englishman  was  afterwards  informed  that  if  it  had  not  been  himself  who  had  been  the  culprit's 
interlocutor,  he  would  have  paid  with  his  two  ears  for  his  fault. 

Among  the  Urua  there  are  but  two  punishments  known — mutilation  and  death;  both  of 
them  are  ven,-  freely  employed,  especially  the  first.  For  the  least  peccadillo  the  chief  or  his 
lieutenants  cause  a  finger  to  be  cut  off,  a  lip,  a  piece  of  the  ear,  or  of  the  nose.  For  graver 
offenses,  they  take  the  hands,  the  ears,  the  nose,  the  great  toes,  and  often  all  of  them  together. 
Kassonngo,  like  his  predecessors,  lays  claim  to  divine  power  and  honors;  he  pretends  to  be 
above  the  necessities  of  life,  and  that  he  has  no  need  of  nourishment — if  he  eats,  drinks  or 
smokes,  it  is  only  because  he  finds  pleasure  in  those  occupations.  In  addition  to  his  first  wife 
and  the  rest  of  his  harem,  he  has  the  right  to  the  possession  of  any  woman  whom  he  may  see 
in  his  travels,  and  who  pleases  him.  If  one  of  these  women  should  become  the  mother  of  a 
son,  he  presents  her  with  a  monkey-skin  in  which  to  envelop  the  child;  this  skin  confers  the 
right  to  take  possession  of  food,  stuffs,  etc.,  in  any  house  excepting  those  occupied  by  members 
of  the  royal  family. 

From  sunset  to  sunrise,  no  man  excepting  the  king  may  enter  the  royal  harem  under  pain  of 
death,  and  if  a  child  is  born  in  the  seraglio  during  the  night,  the  mother  and  the  infant  are 
immediately  driven  out.  The  five  or  six  first  wives  are  all  of  royal  blood,  being  the  sisters  and 
the  first  cousins  of  the  king.  Among  the  others  are  his  mothers-in-law,  his  aimts,  his  nieces, 
and  even  his  own  daughters.  Kassonngo  was  said  to  have  no  other  furniture  for  his  bed- 
chamber than  his  wives.  Some  of  them,  posed  upon  their  hands  and  knees,  formed  at  once  bed- 
stead and  mattress;  others  lying  on  the  beaten  earth  floor,  supplied  the  carpet. 

As  might  be  supposed  from  these  royal  manners,  those  of  his  subjects  are  not  extremely 
refined.  Among  the  Urua  the  wife  who  forgets  her  marriage  vows  is  not  very  seriously  con- 
sidered— the  most  that  can  happen  to  her  is  a  beating  from  her  husband,  and  he  is  not  apt  to 
make  this  very  severe,  from  fear  of  damaging  a  valuable  piece  of  property.  All  the  men 
of  this  country  make  their  fire  and  do  their  cooking  for  themselves,  Kassonngo  being  the  only 
one  exempted  from  this  rule,  and  even  he  is  obliged  to  conform  to  it  whenever  the  royal  cook 
happens  to  absent  himself  He  also  is  in  the  habit  of  taking  his  repast  in  privacy,  and  all  the 
natives  have  the  peculiarity  of  permitting  no  one  to  see  them  either  eat  or  drink.  Cameron 
relates  that  when  he  has  seen  beer  offered  to  them,  they  would  invariably  request  a  piece  of  stuff 
to  be  held  in  front  of  them  to  conceal  them  while  they  drank.  Especially  is  this  the  case  when 
there  are  women  present. 

Their  religion  is  a  mixture  of  fetishism  and  idolatry.  In  all  the  villages  there  are  little  huts 
devoted  to  the  idols,  and  offerings  of  grain,  meat  and  other  food  are  made  before  them.  Nearly 
all  the  men  wear  suspended  to  their  arms  or  necks  little  figures  which  are  talismans;  and  there 
are  numerous  magicians  who  carry  about  with  them  the  idols,  which  they  pretend  to  consult  for 
the  benefit  of  their  clients.  Some  of  these  magicians  are  skilful  ventriloquists,  an  accomplish- 
ment which  is  naturally  of  great  ser\'ice  to  them.  All  these  images  are  venerated,  but  the  most 
.sacred  of  them  all,  the  grand  fetish,  is  the  Koungoid  a  Bandza,  an  all-powerful  idol,  which 
represents  the  founder  of  the  reigning  dynasty  of  the  Urua.  This  idol  is  kept  in  the  back  of  a 
hut  situated  in  a  small  clearing  in  the  heart  of  an  impenetrable  jungle.     His  wife  is  always  a 


O 

< 


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> 
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< 


00 
00 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED.  189 

sister  of  the  reigning  chief,  and  she  bears  the  title  of  Motiale  a  Pannga.  Aronnd  the  jungle  are 
the  habitations  of  numerous  priests,  who  protect  the  sacred  wood  against  the  intrusion  of  the 
profane,  and  receive  the  offerings  of  the  believers.  But,  despite  their  official  position,  and 
although  they  are  initiated  into  all  the  ceremonies  of  the  religion,  these  priests  are  not  permitted 
to  see  the  idol.  This  privilege  is  reserved  exclusively  for  the  bride  of  the  fetish  and  for  the  king; 
the  latter  comes  to  consnlt  it  in  great  affairs,  and  always  laden  with  gifts.  The  day  of  his 
accession  to  power  he  presents  his  offerings;  he  renews  them  at  each  victory  gained  over  an 
enemy;  his  fears,  his  hopes,  his  joys,  his  evils,  his  triumphs  and  his  reverses,  all  serve  to  bring 
fresh  gifts  to  this  oracle.  To  pronounce  the  name  of  "  Koungone  a  Bandza  "  before  a  native 
has  always  the  efiFect  of  making  him  start  with  terror,  and  look  fearfully  around  him,  as  if  he 
expected  to  find  himself  in  the  grasp  of  the  supernatural  power. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  Urua  tattoo  themselves  in  the  same  manner  as  the  Vouagouaha,  but 
their  mode  of  wearing  the  hair  is  different.  The  greater  number  draw  their  locks  backward, 
and  twist  them  together  into  a  sort  of  pigtail  that  stands  out  horizontally  behind,  like  the  handle 
of  a  frying-pan.  The  men  decorate  this  handle  with  a  bunch  of  feathers,  frequently  of  the  red 
plumes  of  the  gray  parrot.  The  size  and  the  height  of  this  plumage  vary  with  the  rank  of  the 
wearer.  They  make  for  themselves  large  aprons  of  the  skins  of  animals;  each  tribe  having  a 
distinctive  skin,  which  is  carried  before  the  chief 

Having,  with  much  difficulty,  secured  the  services  of  some  native  guides,  Cameron  resumed 
his  march  towards  Lake  Kassali,  and  on  the  second  day  arrived  at  Kibeyaeli,  a  large  village, 
well-shaded  and  traversed  by  a  clear-running  stream.  Unfortunately,  for  his  comfort,  he  hap- 
pened to  arrive  in  the  midst  of  the  festivities  attending  a  native  wedding,  and,  as  the  bride  was 
the  niece  of  a  chief  and  the  groom  a  man  of  importance,  the  affair  was  being  celebrated  with 
exceptionable  pomp — that  is  to  say,  night  and  day,  with  an  uproar  that  rendered  all  sleep  impos- 
sible. Two  drums,  beaten  vigorously,  were  accompanied  by  a  dozen  pipers  furnished  with  large 
instruments,  from  which  they  extracted  the  most  piercing  sounds.  An  enthusiastic  crowd 
surrounded  these  performers,  contributing  to  the  din  a  variety  of  discordant  cries  and  the  inces- 
sant clapping  of  hands;  when  one  dancer  became  fatigued,  another  took  his  place.  On  the 
afternoon  of  the  second  day,  the  bridegroom  made  his  appearance;  he  executed  2i pas  seul,  which 
lasted  for  a  half  hour.  At  the  moment  when  this  performance  terminated,  a  young  girl,  of  nine 
or  ten  years  of  age,  arra)'ed  in  the  greatest  finer\-  that  the  country  could  afford,  approached  the 
dancers,  mounted  astride  the  shoulders  of  a  stout  godmother,  and  supported  behind  by  another. 
This  was  the  bride;  the  crowd  immediately  surrounded  her,  and  the  two  supporters  took  to 
dancing  frantically  in  their  turn,  the  body  and  arms  of  the  poor  girl  swaying  helplessh-  with 
their  movements.  When  she  had  been  sufficiently  shaken  up,  the  bridegroom  gave  her  a  num- 
ber of  small  pearls  and  pieces  of  leaf-tobacco,  which  she  proceeded  to  throw,  with  her  eyes 
closed,  among  the  dancers.  This  occasioned  a  frantic  struggle,  everybody  endeavoring  to  secure 
one  of  these  donations,  the  possession  of  which  insured  certain  happiness.  The  bride  was  then 
set  down  on  her  feet,  and  danced  with  her  new  husband  some  ten  minutes,  when  he  suddenly  took 
her  under  his  arm,  and  whisked  her  off  to  his  house.  The  dancing,  the  cries,  the  drumming,  the 
piping,  however,  went  on  all  the  same,  and  were  still  going  on  when  the  travellers  left  the  village. 

On  the  borders  of  Lake  Kassali  Cameron  witnessed  another  incident  of  the  manners  and 
customs  of  the  natives.  Aroused  by  the  sound  of  a  number  of  cracked  little  bells  in  the  street 
of  the  village,  he  went  out  of  his  house  and  saw  a  mgannga — that  is  to  sa)',  a  magician,  making 
the  tour  of  the  place,  followed  by  his  suite.  His  garment  was  composed  of  an  ample  skirt  of 
grass  stuff,  and  he  had  around  his  neck  an  enormous  necklace,  consisting  of  pieces  of  gourds, 
skulls  of  birds,  and  imitations  of  these  skulls  coarsely  carved  in  wood.  A  large  band,  composed 
of  split '  pearls,  and  surmounted  by  a  large  plume,  decorated  his  head.  In  place  of  girdle,  he 
wore  several  strings  of  iron  bells,  which  jingled  as  he  moved,  and  his  face,  his  arms  and  his  legs 
were  whitened  with  pipe-clay.  Behind  him  came  a  woman,  carrying  in  a  calabash,  the  idol  of 
which  he  was  the  priest.  Then  came  another  woman  carr^ang  a  mat,  and  two  little  boys,  bear- 
ing various  objects,  completed  the  procession.  At  his  approach,  all  the  women  quitted  their 
houses;  many  of  them  followed  him  to  the  fetish-house,  which  they  surrounded,  and  seemed  to 
be  absorbed  in  their  devotions,  clapping  their  hands  with  an  absorbed  air,  inclining  themselves 
and  uttering  strange  sighs.     Presently,  there  arrived  another  magician,  then  another  and  another 


igo 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


to  the  number  of  five,  all  wearing  the  same  costume  and  followed  by  similar  attendants.  When 
they  were  asseiiibled,  they  all  went  ofiF  in  a  procession  to  choose  in  the  village  a  suitable  place. 
There  they  arranged  themselves  in  a  row,  squatting  on  the  ground,  spread  their  mats  before 
them,  and  placed  upon  them  their  idols  and  other  appurtenances. 

The  chief  among  them,  seeing  Cameron  seated  on  a  chair,  conceived  that  his  dignity  required 
him  to  have  at  least  as  lofty  a  seat,  and  sent  for  one  of  the  large  mortars  used  in  crushing  grain. 
This  he  turned  upside  down,  and  sat  on  the  bottom  ;  but  his  elevation  proved  to  be  but  a 
tottering  one,  and  after  two  or  three  falls,  the  pontiff  concluded  that  securit\-  was  to  be  preferred 
before  honor,  and  squatted  again  on  the  ground  alongside  of  his  companions.  The  proceedings 
were  opened  by  the  wife  of  the  chief  of  the  village,  who  presented  the  chapter  with  six  pullets, 
and  presently  went  away  filled  with  joy.  The  high-priest  had  done  her  the  honor  to  spit  in  her 
face,  and  presented  her  with  a  pot  of  filth,  a  precious  talisman,  which  she  hastened  to  put  in  a 
secure  place. 

After  her  departure  the  assembly  devoted  itself  to  the  affairs  of  the  public;  some  of  them  were 
promptlv  settled,  but  t)iere  were  others  that  presented  various  knotty  points  that  required  much 
discussion  and  many  gestures  to  bring  to  a  satisfactory  conclusion.  When  the  magicians  were 
unable  to  solve  these  questions,  the  idols  before  them  were  consulted.  One  of  the  priests  was  a 
good  ventriloquist,  and  the  worshippers  thought  the  answers  proceeded  directly  from  the  mouth 

of  the  image.  The  larger  the  offering, 
the  more  favorable  the  response,  and  this 
day  of  divination  was  so  profitable  that 
two  of  the  practitioners  returned  on  the 
morrow;  but  the  faithful  had  not  suf- 
ficient means  to  enable  the  idols  to  speak 
two  days  in  succession,  and  the  results  of 
the  second  sitting  were  highly  unsatis- 
factory. 

One  of  Kassonngo' s  lieutenants,  whom 
Cameron  pronounced  the  completest 
scoundrel  of  them  all,  was  named 
Louren^o  Souza  Coimbra,  and  many 
of  the  explorer's  vexations  and  delays 
were  attributable  to  this  slave  hunter. 
His  demands  for  presents  were  constant 
and  importunate;  his  habitual  state  was 
that  of  semi-intoxication,  and  his  appear- 
ance was  as  prepossessing  as  his  character.  His  head  was  covered  with  an  old  hat,  so  torn,  dirty 
and  shapeless,  that  a  rag-picker  would  have  scorned  it;  his  shirt  was  equally  filthy,  and  a  long 
skirt  of  grass  stuff,  which  descended  to  his  heels,  completed  his  attire.  His  hair  was  short  and 
woolly;  his  face  was  nearly  beardless,  and  the  skin,  of  a  dirty  yellow,  was  smeared  with  grease 
and  filth.  The  cruelty  of  this  pleasant  personage  was  only  equalled  by  his  other  accomplish- 
ments. One  of  his  slave  caravans  is  described  by  Cameron.  These  captives  were  all  women, 
fifty-two  in  number,  chained  together  in  groups  of  seventeen  or  eighteen.  All  of  them  were 
charged  with  heavy  burdens,  the  plunder  acquired  on  the  march;  some  of  them,  in  addition, 
carried  their  infants  and  some  of  them  were  enceinte.  Sinking  with  fatigue,  their  feet  and  legs 
covered  with  wounds,  the  poor  creatures  were  scarcely  able  to  drag  themselves  along. 

"The  amount  of  misery  and  the  number  of  deaths  which  the  capture  of  these  women  had 
produced  is  beyond  anything  that  can  be  imagined.  It  is  necessar}'  to  have  seen  it  to  be  able  to 
judge  of  it.  The  crimes  perpetrated  in  Central  Africa  would  seem'  incredible  to  the  inhabitants 
of  a  civilized  country.  In  order  to  obtain  these  fifty  women,  ten  villages  had  been  destroyed; 
ten  villages  having  each  from  a  hundred  to  two  hundred  inhabitants— a  total  of  fifteen  hundred 
souls.  Some  of  them  may  have  been  able  to  escape,  but  by  far  the  greater  number— nearly  all, 
in  fact— had  eitlier  perished  in  the  flames,  been  killed  in  defending  their  families,  or  perished  of 
hunger  in  the  jungle,  if,  indeed,  the  beasts  of  prey  had  not  contributed  to  their  more  speedy  end. 
"The  band,  in  addition  to  the  fifty-two  women,  included  two  men  belonging  to  Coimbra, 


House  in  Lake  Mohrya. 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED.  191 

two  of  his  wives,  given  to  him  by  Kassonngo,  and  perfectly  adapted  to  their  task,  which  was 
that  of  watching  the  slaves,  and  three  children,  one  of  which  carried  an  idol,  also  presented  by 
Kassonngo  to  Coimbra,  and  which  the  latter  considered  as  good  a  divinity  as  any  other,  although 
he  made  the  pretense  of  being  a  Christian.  Like  the  greater  number  of  the  Bihe  half-breeds, 
his  Christianity  consisted  entirely  in  having  received  baptism  at  the  hands  of  some  blackguard 
calling  himself  a  priest,  and  who,  too  much  of  a  criminal  to  be  tolerated  in  Loando  or  Benguela, 
had  sought  refuge  in  the  interior  where  he  baptized  for  hire  all  the  infants  that  were  brought 
to  him." 

It  was  in  this  most  unpleasant  company  that  Cameron  continued  his  course  towards  the  sea- 
coast,  alternately  disputing  with  the  petty  chiefs  whom  they  met  on  the  route  and  with  the 
greater  savages  who  constituted  his  travelling  companions.  On  the  28th  of  August,  the  caravan 
arrived  at  the  capital  of  Katennd^,  a  great  chief  of  one  of  the  sections  of  the  Lovale  people, 
who  formerly  composed  only  one  state,  but  are  now  divided  into  two  or  three  governments. 
The  next  day  a  visit  of  ceremony  was  made  to  Katennde.  He  was  seated  in  great  state  under  a 
tree,  and  surrounded  by  his  council.  On  each  side  of  the  tree  was  a  little  shed  containing 
fetishes;  one  of  these  contained  representations  of  some  unknown  animal,  the  other,  caricatures 
of  a  man  and  a  woman.  A  goat's  horn,  suspended  as  a  talisman  from  a  branch  of  the  tree, 
hung  within  a  few  feet  of  the  monarch.  The  latter,  who  was  in  grand  costume,  wore  a  felt 
hat,  a  shirt  of  printed  calico,  and  a  long  skirt  composed  of  colored  handkerchiefs.  He  had  a  pipe 
in  his  mouth,  and  did  not  cease  smoking  during  the  interview.  His  provision  of  tobacco  being 
nearly  exhausted,  Cameron  won  his  gratitude  by  presenting  him  with  some  from  his  own  stock, 
in  i^eturn  for  which  he  received  a  fowl  and  some  eggs.  When  questioned  concerning  lyivingstone, 
who  had  passed  through  his  countr}-  in  1854,  the  only  circumstance  the  potentate  could  recall 
was,  the  great  missionary  was  mounted  upon  an  ox,  a  detail  which  seemed  to  have  impressed 
itself  strongly  on  his  memor3^  Since  that  date,  Katennd6  had  twice  changed  his  capital.  In 
the  afternoon  of  that  day  many  of  his  subjects  visited  the  camp  of  the  travellers,  and  one  of 
them,  whom  Cameron  questioned  concerning  Lake  Dilolo,  related  a  story  concerning  it. 

This  lake,  though  so  far  to  the  westward  of  the  centre  of  the  continent,  is  on  the  stream  of  the 
Leeba  River,  one  of  the  head-waters  of  the  Zambesi.  Its  site  was  formerly  occupied  by  a  large 
town,  the  inhabitants  of  which  lived  in  great  abundance  and  happiness.  Ever}'  one  was  rich  in 
goats,  pigs  and  fowls.  Grain  and  tapioca  grew  in  profusion.  The  natives  passed  their  lives  in 
eating  and  drinking,  without  thought  for  the  morrow.  One  day  a  very  aged  man  appeared  in  the 
village,  exhausted  and  half  famished.  To  his  appeals  for  food  and  lodging,  the  villagers  replied 
only  by  mocking  him,  and  by  encouraging  the  children  to  pelt  him  with  stones  and  mud.  The 
stranger  was  turning  wearily  away  when  one  man,  more  kind-hearted  than  his  neighbors,  took 
pity  upon  him,  invited  him  into  his  hut,  killed  a  goat  and  soon  spread  a  plentiful  repast  before 
him,  and  then  gave  him  his  own  bed  to  rest  in.  In  the  middle  of  the  night,  the  old 
man  roused  his  host,  and  said  to  him,  ' '  You  have  been  very  kind  to  me ;  I  wish  in  my  turn  to 
do  you  a  service,  but  what  I  say  to  you  must  be  kept  a  profound  secret."  The  other  promised, 
and  the  stranger  continued.  "Before  long,  there  will  be  here  in  the  night  a  great  storm.  As 
soon  as  }ou  hear  the  wind  and  the  rain,  arise  instantly,  take  with  you  all  that  you  can  carry  and 
flee."  Then  he  departed.  Two  nights  later  the  citizen  was  awakened  by  such  a  storm  as  he 
had  never  before  heard;  recalling  the  words  of  his  strange  guest,  he  gathered  up  his  wives,  his 
slaves,  his  goats,  and  all  that  he  could  transport,  and  fled  to  the  hills.  When  morning  broke, 
the  site  of  the  village  was  occupied  by  the  Lake  Dilolo.  Since  then,  all  travellers  who  cross  the 
lake  at  night,  or  who  even  camp  on  its  shores,  hear  issuing  from  the  bottom  of  the  waters,  the 
sound  of  pestles  bruising  grain,  the  sound  of  women  singing,  of  cocks  crowing,  of  goats  bleating. 

Two  or  three  marches  farther  westward,  in  the  country  of  Mona  Peho,  there  came  into  the  camp, 
one  day,  an  individual  entirely  covered  with  a  native  woven  stuff",  striped  with  black  and  white; 
the  gloves  and  the  shoes  attached  by  thongs,  the  junction  of  the  leggings  and  the  body  garment 
hidden  by  a  fringe  of  grass  stuff".  The  face  was  covered  with  a  wooden  mask,  painted  in 
grotesque  resemblance  to  an  old  man's  countenance  with  enormous  spectacles,  and  the  back  of 
the  head  by  a  wig  of  gray  fur.  This  strange  figure  carried  iu  one  hand  a  long  stick  and  in  the 
other,  a  bell  which  he  rang  unceasingly;  behind  him  a  boy  carried  a  sack  destined  to  receive 
contributions.     To  their  inquiries  concerning  him  the  travellers  received  reply  that  this  was  a 


192  AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 

false  devil  who  was  to  chase  away  the  evil  spirits  that  sought  refuge  in  the  adjoining  forest;  the 
svlvan  demons  of  Kibokone  being  as  numerous  as  they  were  powerful.  Each  one  of  them  has 
his  own  district,  of  which  he  is  so  jealous  tliat  when  he  encounters  another  trespassing  in  it, 
he  immediately  leaves  and  seeks  another  asylum.  The  false  demon  resembles  the  true  ones  so 
closely  that  on  encountering  him  these  will  immediately  take  themselves  off.  The  masker  who 
renders  this  service  to  the  community  is  naturally  well  paid  for  his  trouble;  and  as  he  is  also 
the  fetisher  of  the  district,  he  contrives  to  live  in  comparative  ease. 

On  the  iithof  October  they  reached  the  town  of  another  chief,  Kagnommb^,  the  largest  they 
had  yet  seen,  being  three  miles  in  circumference.  Within  this  enclosure,  however,  were  certain 
districts  pertaining  to  particular  chiefs,  in  which  they  resided  when  they  came  to  pay  homage  to 
their  suzerain.  Parks  for  the  cattle  and  the  pigs  and  fields  of  tobacco  also  took  up  considerable 
of  this  space,  and  still  more  was  occupied  by  three  large  ravines,  through  which  flowed  streams 
that  afterwards  fell  into  the  Kokema  River.  Cameron  was  received  on  his  arrival  by  the  grand 
chamberlain  of  Kagnommb^,  his  chief  secretary'  and  the  captain  of  his  guards,  and  they  all  three 
wore  red  waistcoats  in  token  of  their  dignity.  The  second  of  these  functionaries,  however,  was 
mainly  for  ostentation,  as  he  did  not  know  how  to  write.  The  business  of  the  sovereign  with 
the  establishments  on  the  coast  was  transacted  by  a  subordinate  somewhat  better  instructed. 
These  three  officials  conducted  the  explorer  to  a  house  prepared  for  his  reception  and  without 
giving  him  time  for  refreshment  demanded  of  him  what  he  had  brought  in  the  way  of  gifts  for 
their  master.  A  Snider  rifle  and  a  piece  of  cloth  were  the  donations  proposed,  but  these  were 
declared  to  be  totally  insuflicient,  and  it  was  necessary  to  add  to  them  a  leopard  skin,  which  had 
been  given  to  Cameron  and  which  he  valued  highly  himself.  All  the  rest  of  the  day  he  was 
surrounded  by  a  curious  crowd  of  the  natives,  who  pushed  their  inquiries  so  far  that  he  was 
forced  to  defend  himself  as  from  mere  pickpockets. 

"The  following  morning"  he  says,  "about  nine  o'clock,  Kagnommbe  w-as  ready  to  receive 
me  and  sent  me  word  to  that  effect.  I  made  myself  as  handsome  as  the  penury  of  my  wardrobe 
would  permit,  and  taking  with  me  six  of  my  servants  I  proceeded  to  the  ravine,  on  the  border  of 
which  was  situated  the  residence  of  the  chief  Sentinels  with  red  vests,  and  armed  with  lances 
and  knives,  guarded  the  entrance.  In  the  courtyard,  a  double  row  of  small  stools  were  placed 
for  the  expected  guests.  At  the  end  of  these  two  files  was  the  royal  seat,  adorned  with  my 
leopard  skin.  Not  seeing  any  place  assigned  for  myself,  and  not  being  disposed  to  occupy  a  seat 
of  the  same  level  as  those  of  my  followers,  I  sent  off"  for  my  chair.  This  the  court  officers 
opposed  violently,  stating  that  no  one  had  ever  presumed  to  sit  in  a  chair  in  the  presence  of 
Kagnommbe,  and  that  I  could  not  be  permitted  to  introduce  such  a  fashion.  To  this  I  replied 
that  I  was  quite  indifferent  and  that  I  would  take  myself  off",  whereupon  my  chair  was  admitted 
without  further  trouble. 

"When  everybody  was  seated,  the  gate  of  the  inner  palisade  was  opened  and  the  chief 
appeared.  He  wore  an  old  pair  of  black  pantaloons  and  an  old  black  coat,  put  on  any  way,  and 
over  his  shoulders  a  gray  Scotch  shawl,  the  two  ends  of  which,  thrown  behind  him,  were  held 
by  a  little  boy  entirely  naked.  A  dirty  old  broad-brimmed  hat  covered  his  head,  and  notwith- 
standing the  early  hour  of  the  day,  he  was  already-  three  parts  drunken. 

"Scarcely  was  he  seated  when  he  began  to  inform  me  of  his  puissance.  He  was,  he  said,  the 
greatest  of  all  the  kings  of  Africa,  because,  in  addition  to  his  African  name,  he  bore  a  European 
one;  he  was  called  Antonio  Kagnommbe,  and  the  portrait  of  the  king  Antonio  had  been  sent  to 
Lisbon.  I  was  also  notified  that  the  extent  of  his  power  was  not  to  be  measured  by  the  fresh- 
ness of  the  garments  which  he  wore  on  this  occasion;  that  a  grand  costume,  entirely  new,  had 
been  presented  to  him  by  the  Portuguese  authorities,  during  his  sojourn  on  the  coast.  He  had 
passed  several  years  at  Loanda,  where  he  had,  he  said,  completed  his  education;  but  the  only 
result  of  his  studies,  as  far  as  I  could  perceive,  seemed  to  be  to  have  joined  the  vices  of  a  semi- 
civilization  to  those  of  a  savage  state. 

"After  having  been  informed  that  I  had  been  travelling  for  a  long  time,  he  was  pleased  to 
say  that  he  was  gratified  with  the  presents  which  I  had  made  him;  but  he  took  occasion  to 
remind  me  that  if  I  should  ever  happen  to  visit  his  country  again,  I  would  be  expected  to  offer 
him  gifts  more  in  accordance  with  his  grandeur.  After  this  recommendation,  which  terminated 
the  royal  discourse,  we  entered  into  the  inner  enclosure,  where  an  enormous  banian  tree  spread 


,94  AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 

its  shadow,  and  where  there  were  several  female  banians,  bearing  seeds  but  no  fruits.  When 
the  stools  were  replaced  in  order,  Kagnonnnbe  entered  one  of  the  houses  of  the  enclosure,  and 
reappeared  in  a  little  while  with  a  bottle  of  brandy  and  a  tin-cup.  He  poured  little  portions  of 
his  liquor  all  around,  then,  putting  the  bottle  to  his  own  lips,  he  proceeded  to  make  so  large  a 
vacancy  in  its  contents,  that  I  thought  to  see  him  fall  blind  drunk.  The  only  result,  however, 
was  to  render  him  more  active,  and  he  set  to  work  to  gesticulate  and  to  dance  in  the  most 
extravao-ant  manner,  employing  the  eutr'acts  of  his  ballet  in  absorbing  fresh  draughts  from  his 
bottle.     Finally,  he  ceased,  and  we  parted." 

One  of  the  very  last  of  these  native  courts  was  that  of  Konngo,  chief  of  the  Bailounda.  His 
capital,  Kammbala,  was  situated  on  a  rocky  mountain,  which  rose  in  the  centre  of  a  wooded 
plain,  surrounded  by  hills.  The  entrance  of  the  village  was  on  a  level  sheet  of  granite.  Passing 
throuo-h  three  palisades,  the  visitors  were  conducted  into  an  enclosure  where  were  four  huts  that 
were  placed  at  their  disposal.  The  houses  of  the  village  were  grouped  on  the  heights  in  the  most 
curious  fashion;  every  level  place  that  offered  sufficient  space  was  occupied  by  a  dwelling,  in 
such  a  manner  that  the  door  of  \our  neighbor's  house  was  generally  either  above  your  head  or 
under  your  feet.  Great  trees  grew  out  of  the  crevices  of  the  rocks;  little  patches  of  tobacco 
were  cultivated  near  the  huts,  and  the  palisades  were  draped  with  flowering  vines. 

The  visitors  were  received  by  some  of  the  councillors  of  the  chief  The  prime  minister  being 
absent,  his  wife  took  charge  of  the  preparation  of  the  repast  for  the  guests.  She  soon  brought 
on  a  liberal  portion  of  thick  milk  and  dried  locusts  for  the  attendants;  afterwards  appeared 
several  of  the  great  men  of  the  capital,  each  one  of  them  with  a  pot  of  beer.  Cameron  was  very 
desirous  of  obtaining  an  audience  and  presenting  his  gift  to  the  king,  and  it  was  decided  that  the 
affair  should  take  place  in  the  afternoon.  At  the  appointed  hour,  his  introducers  came  for  him, 
and  he  was  conducted  to  the  summit  of  the  hill,  where  the  king  and  his  principal  wife  had  their 
residence,  built  upon  a  small  platform.  This,  surrounded  by  a  strong  palisade,  was  only  acces- 
sible on  one  side;  to  reach  it,  it  was  necessary  to  cross  no  less  than  thirteen  stockades.  At  two 
paces  from  the  royal  wall,  they  were  arrested  by  a  shed  covering  a  great  bell,  which  was  sounded 
by  the  watchmen.  Here  was  a  body-guard,  so  that  no  one  could  approach  the  palace  without 
being  heralded. 

"The  permission  arrived,  and  the  entrance  was  opened  to  us.  There  we  found  some  stools 
arranged  around  an  antique  arm-chair,  which  served  for  a  throne;  my  chair  was  placed  among 
these  stools.  As  soon  as  we  had  entered,  Konngo  appeared,  clad  in  an  old  uniform  in  a  very 
dilapidated  state,  and  crowned  with  an  equally  lamentable  cocked-hat.  As  he  was,  at  the  same 
time,  very  old,  and  very  much  under  the  influence  of  his  potations,  two  men  sustained  him,  and 
it  was  necessary  to  seat  him  in  his  arm-chair.  I  advanced  and  shook  hands  with  him;  I  do  not 
know  that  he  had  much  idea  who  was  his  visitor.  Some  of  his  councillors  took  up  the  conversa- 
tion; my  gift  was  oSered  in  due  form,  and  we  retired. 

"As  I  went  back  to  my  hut  I  passed  a  group  of  women  occupied  in  grinding  grain. 
They  did  not  use  pestles  and  mortars,  as  is  the  custom  elsewhere,  but  the  polished  surface 
of  the  granite,  and  a  piece  of  hard,  curved  wood,  a  sort  of  mallet,  of  which  the  long  curve 
constituted  the  handle." 

As  the  expedition  drew  nearer  the  coast,  the  constantly  increasing  difficulties  of  the  march 
began  to  tell  more  and  more  on  its  slender  resources.  The  season  of  the  rains  came  on,  and 
the  fatigues  of  the  daily  march  were  succeeded  by  a  comfortless  night,  passed  in  wet  and  mud. 
The  native  porters  began  to  straggle  and  to  die.  Finally,  at  the  distance  of  a  hundred  and 
twenty-six  geographical  miles  from  the  coast,  a  council  of  war  was  called  to  consider  the 
desperate  situation.  After  a  half  hour's  consideration,  it  was  decided  that  Cameron  should 
abandon  his  tent,  his  boat,  his  bed,  everything  but  his  journal,  his  instruments  and  his 
books,  and  with  five  picked  men,  endeavor  to  reach  the  Portuguese  settlements  by  forced 
marches.  From  there  he  could  send  back  help  to  the  rest  of  the  company."  For  provisions 
he  had  the  half  of  a  fowl  and  a  little  flour.  His  pecuniary  resources  were  reduced  to  two 
yards  of  stuff  In  spite  of  semi-starvation,  exhaustion  and  the  development  of  scurvy  in 
his  system,  he  persevered  in  this  effort,  and  finally,  as  he  came  out  half  dead  in  sight  of 
the  sea  at  Catombela,  he  was  met  by  a  small  party  of  Europeans  in  palanquins,  one  of 
whom,   a  young  Frenchman,   immediately  leaped  to  the  ground,  drew  a  bottle  from  its  case, 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED.  195 

and  drank  enthusiastically  to  the  health  of  "the  first  European  who  had  crossed  tropical 
Africa  from  east  to  west." 

Two  or  three  of  the  latest  developments  in  the  slow  progress  of  African  civilization  may  be 
briefly  considered  in  conclusion.  One  of  the  most  important  in  its  connection  with  the  relations 
between  European  powers  is  the  presence  of  the  English  in  Egypt,  and  the  French  attitude  in 
regard  to  this  occupancy.  The  latest  development  of  this  hostility  of  the  government  of  the 
Republic,  its  refusal  to  sanction  the  advantageous  arrangement  for  the  conversion  of  the  Egyp- 
tian privileged  debt,  unless  the  English  government  agreed  to  set  a  not  distant  date  for  the 
evacuation  of  Egypt  by  the  British  forces,  is  only  another  incident  in  a  long  story.  The  fine 
old,  unreasoning  jealousy  of  "perfidious  Albion"  seems  really  to  be  largely  responsible  for  what 
the  English  consider  French  stupidity  as  much  as  French  malice.  They  claim,  with  some  show 
of  reason,  that  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  that  the  Gallic  statesmen  seriously  believed  that  Lord 
Salisbury  would  consent  to  any  engagement  to  withdraw  the  British  troops  at  a  moment  which 
would  lead  to  the  most  disastrous  results.  The  work  of  jears  would  be  undone  in  a  few  months, 
the  finances  and  credit  of  the  country  would  be  utterly  disorganized. 

The  department  of  public  works  in  Egypt  is  almost  exclusively  occupied  with  the  great 
problem  of  irrigation — so  important  a  factor  in  the  prosperity  of  the  country.  Indeed,  we  may 
say,  with  a  recent  writer:   "  The  very  life  of  the  Egyptian  cultivator  depends  on  the  engineer." 

In  the  matter  of  the  maintenance  of  public  order  within  the  borders  of  Egypt  and  the  security 
of  the  country  from  external  attack,  the  recent  victories  of  the  English  army  over  the  fanatical 
dervishes  are  sufficient  evidences  of  the  good  work  done,  and  of  the  very  great  importance  of 
that  work.  The  state  of  affairs  which  would  have  ensued  if  the  followers  of  the  Mahdi  had  been 
victorious  instead  of  defeated  may  be  only  faintly  conceived.  It  is  not  probable  that  Europe 
would  permit  the  country  to  be  exposed  to  such  disaster,  and,  if  the  English  were  to  abandon 
the  task,  the  military  force  of  some  other  power  would  be  charged  with  the  duty  of  maintaining 
public  order  in  the  valley  of  the  Nile.  The  British  officials  claim  that  their  efforts  have  been 
constantly  directed  towards  enabling  the  Egyptian  government  to  stand  alone,  and  in  the 
reorganization  of  the  army  and  the  police  this  effort  has  been  attended  with  serious  difficulties. 
The  fellaheen  are  essentially  peaceful  by  nature,  and  not  personally  brave;  moreover,  they  are 
not  sustained  by  any  public  sentiment  nor  any  fear  of  public  opinion — "if  a  man  is  afraid,  he 
says  so,  as  if  it  were  the  most  natural  thing  in  the  world."  Exemption  from  military  service 
was  formerly  considered  cheaply  purchased  by  the  loss  of  a  finger  or  an  eye,  and  even  under  the 
English  rule  these  voluntary  mutilations  are  not  uncommon.  The  zeal  of  the  English  officers 
has,  however,  accomplished  wonders,  and  behind  breastworks,  and  even  in  the  open,  the  Egyp- 
tian has  proved  himself  a  good  soldier. 

The  Egyptian  army  is  now  composed  of  11,719  men  and  542  officers;  of  whom  63  are 
English.  An  increase  of  some  2000  men  has  been  made  in  1889.  The  police  is  a  semi- 
military  force,  and,  though  the  native  policeman  is  very  patient  and  timid  rather  than 
truculent,  the  number  of  offenses  are  shown  by  statistics  to  be  steadily  decreasing.  The 
so-called  brigandage,  which  is  mainly  burglary,  has  been   entirely  suppressed. 

The  condition  of  the  fellaheen  is  by  no  means  so  abject  as  a  superficial  view  of  his  situ- 
ation would  seem  to  indicate.  Though  he  works  hard,  wears  very  few  clothes,  eats  no  meat 
and  lives  in  a  house  with  mud  walls,  it  is  not  true — even  in  his  darkest  days  under  Ismail 
Pasha  and  his  predecessors— that  he  lives  in  constant  hopes  of  translation  to  a  less  miserable 
world  by  death.  All  things  are  relative  and  comparative,  and  it  has  been  boldly  declared 
that  many  of  the  lower  classes  in  Europe  suffer  greater  privations  and  live  more  cheerless 
lives  than  do  the  tillers  of  Egyptian  soil.  The  mud-walled,  partially  roofed  cottage  of  the 
fellaheen  furnishes  sufficient  shelter  in  the  mild  and  dry  climate  ;  neither  a  meat  diet  nor 
an  abundance  of  clothing  is  necessary  to  their  physical  comfort  or  strength.  Their  ambitions 
are  as  limited  as  their  wants— so  long  as  they  are  not  unduly  taxed,  imprisoned  unjustly, 
dragged  away  to  forced  labor  or  conscripted,  their  share  of  happiness  in  this  world  is  much 
greater  than  that  of  some  of  their  social  superiors. 

The  abuses  under  which  these  simple  people  suffered  have  been  very  generally  done  away 
with  under  the  present  administration.  Their  liabilities  to  the  money-lenders  of  the  villages, 
which  in  1883  were   enormous,  have   been   so   greatly  reduced  that  Sir  E.  Vincent  reported, 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED.  197 

in  1888,  that  these  village  money-lenders  were  rapidly  disappearing.  Notwithstanding  the 
land-tax  and  other  fixed  charges  frequently  amount  to  as  much  as  $30  or  $35  an  acre,  the 
general  value  of  the  land  and  the  status  of  its  proprietors  is  far  from  being  desperate,  as 
the  following  incident  will  testify:  "In  1887  the  Nile  rose  too  high,  and  a  cry  was  raised 
that  there  was  great  devastation  in  Upper  Egypt,  and  danger  of  famine.  The  Khedive  at 
once  instituted  a  commission,  charged  to  assess  the  damage  done  to  crops,  to  remit  taxation 
accordingly,  and  to  give  relief  to  those  in  need.  The  commissioners  were  amply  supplied 
with  funds,  but  returned  to  Cairo  with  an  almost  intact  treasury,  as  they  found  it  unneces- 
sary, and  well-nigh  impossible  to  distribute  more  than  a  few  hundred  pounds.  The  distress 
was  imaginary,  and  the  flood  had  been  turned  to  account  in  order  to  obtain  remission  of 
taxes,  the  ideal  of  the  fellah.  The  commissioners  related  many  interesting  anecdotes  as  to 
the  ingenuity  of  the  peasantry.  One  man  appeared  before  the  commission  as  if  in  the  most 
abject  misery,  and  related  a  harrowing  tale  of  how  the  mighty  river  had  swallowed  up  his 
crop  of  corn,  his  only  subsistence,  so  that  starvation  now  stared  him  in  the  face.  Inquiry 
was  made,  however,  before  granting  him  relief  and  remission  of  taxes.  He  had  valued  his 
lost  corn  crop  at  $15  an  acre ;  but  it  was  found  that  the  poor  man  had  already  let  the 
land,  which  had  been  flooded  and  co\ered  with  rich  mud,  at  the  rate  of  $70  for  tobacco 
planting!  When  it  is  considered  that  the  special  tax  on  land  planted  with  tobacco  is  $150 
an  acre,  that  the  fixed  charges  on  the  land,  including  the  rent,  would  in  this  case  amount 
to  $250,  and  that  the  incoming  tenant  was  a  shrewd  Greek,  it  will  be  acknowledged  that  it 
is  diflScult  to  over-estimate  the  value  of  an  acre  of  Nile  deposit." 

A  very  different  condition  is  that  of  another  British  settlement — that  of  the  little  garrison 
which  holds  the  country  against  the  Arab  slave  traders  north  of  Lake  Nyassa  in  Central 
Africa.  In  the  early  summer  of  1889  a  movement  was  set  on  foot  in  England  to  send  them 
relief,  letters  appeared  in  the  Times,  the  position  was  even  compared  with  that  of  General 
Gordon  at  Khartoum,  and  Commander  Cameron  canva.ssed  the  country  and  addressed  meet- 
ings in  the  endeavor  to  raise  funds  for  a  relief  expedition,  of  which  he  offered  to  take 
command  himself  The  cost  of  this  expedition  he  estimated  at  $75,000;  but  after  several 
mouths  of  continued  effort  he  had  only  succeeded  in  collecting  some  $6,000. 

The  fighting  has  been  going  on  with  varying  success  for  two  years,  and  the  end  is  not  yet  as 
we  goto  press.  The  so-called  "Arab"  slave  dealers  first  appeared  in  theWankonde  country, 
north  and  north-east  of  Lake  Nyassa,  some  eight  years  ago.  The  Wankonde  were  a  peaceful, 
agricultural  and  cattle-breeding  people,  armed  only  with  spears;  intelligent,  and  in  many 
respects  in  advance  of  the  general  savage  tribes  of  Africa.  The  country  was  densely  populated, 
and  the  tribe  owned  allegiance  to  four  powerful  chiefs.  One  of  these,  "'the  Chungoo,"  died, 
and  his  followers,  left  without  a  head,  became  divided  up  into  many  small,  weak  communities. 
The  Arabs,  who  arrived  about  this  time  and  obtained  permission  to  settle  and  trade,  were  mostly 
Swahili-speaking,  woolly-headed  coast  men,  with  but  little  Arab  blood  in  their  veins.  They 
owned  allegiance  to  the  powerful  "White  Arabs"  of  the  Senga  countrs-.  Their  chief  was 
a  man  named  Mlozi,  purer-blooded,  and  with  considerable  ability  joined  to  great  ambition. 
Settling  on  the  British  made  road  from  Nyassa  to  Tanganyika,  he  commanded  the  Mpata  pass, 
while  his  subordinates,  lower  down,  fixed  on  the  ford  of  the  Rikura  River.  The  caravans  from 
the  interior,  from  the  Senga  country  and  from  Kabanda  and  other  powerful  Arabs  at  the  south 
of  Tanganyika,  had  to  pass  his  way  to  the  ferry  at  Deep  Bay,  where  they  crossed  the  lake  to 
communicate  with  the  Arabs  on  its  eastern  shore,  and  proceed  onward  to  the  coast,  and  the 
ferry  was  thus  under  his  control.  The  small  village  was  soon  surrounded  b\-  a  palisade  and 
thorn  zareeba,  nominally  against  hyenas,  and  this  soon  grew  into  a  strong  stockade,  and  Mlozi 
then  called  himself  "Sultan  of  Mkonde,"  and  was  in  a  position  to  make  his  village  a  resting- 
place  for  caravans  and  levy  dues  on  them.  The  necessary  quarrel  with  the  inoffensive 
Wankonde  was  soon  afterwards  picked,  their  villages  burned,  the  men  massacred,  and  the 
women  and  children  carried  off"  for  slaves.  The  remnant  of  the  unhappy  people  fled  to  their 
friends  north  of  the  Songwe,  or  crowded  around  the  little  British  station   at  Karonga. 

This  usual  proceeding  was  the  prelude  to  a  most  unusual  one— an  attack  upon  the  English 
station.     At  this  time  there  were  two  traders  there,   both  Scotchmen,   of   the  African    Lakes 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


199 


Women  of  Kammbala  Breaking  Grain. 


Company,  one  of  whom  was  generally  away  on  caravan  work.  There  was  no  fort  or  stockade, 
and  only  some  sixty  natives,  or  "station  boys,"  a  few  miscellaneous  rifles  and  a  very  few 
rounds  of  ammunition.  The  only  whites  within  a  hundred  and  fifty  miles  were  two  mission- 
aries at  Chirenji.  Some  thirty-five  miles  along  the  Tanganyika  road,  Mr.  Monteith,  who 
happened  to  be  alone  at  this  time,  hurriedly  began  a  rough  brick  wall  as  a  defense,  and  sent 
messages  asking  the  advice  and  help  of  the  missionaries.  One  of  them  immediately  came  to 
his  assistance;  the  steamer  arrived  and  was  sent  south  for  ammunition  and  help.  At  the  south 
of  the  lake  she  found  Mr.  O'Neill,  consul  at  Mozambique,  his  brother-in-law  and  a  Mr.  Sharpe, 
who  was  hunting  in  the  neighborhood.  These  at  once  started  for  Karonga,  and  arrived  just 
in  time.  From  insults  the  Arabs  proceeded  to  open  violence,  and  finally  opened  the  fight 
with  a  volley  of  bullets.  For  fi^e  days  and  nights  the  garrison  held  out,  till  almost  the  last 
round  of  ammunition  was  expended.  Fifteen  hundred  refugees  were  crowded  on  the  lake 
shore,  in  rear  of  the  stockade.  Mr.  Nicoll  had  marched  in  before  hostilities  were  opened,  and 
then  succeeded  in  running  the  gauntlet,  and  reaching  the  friendly  Wankonde,  north  of  the 
Songwe.  With  five  thousand  of  these  spearmen  he  came  down  upon  the  besiegers  just  as 
the  garrison  had  abandoned  hope.  The  Arabs  fled,  but  the  whites  were  compelled  to  evacuate 
Karonga,  which  was  razed  to  the  ground  b)-  the  returning  slave  drivers,  as  soon  as  the  garrison 
was  at  a  safe  distance. 

In  South  Africa,  also,  the  rule  of  the  English  has  not  been  crowned  with  unvarying  success 
and  the  doings  of  the  "Aborigines  Protection  Society"  furnish  subject  for  bitter  discussion 
among  those  interested  in  the  welfare  of  the  Cape  colonies.  The  policy  of  this  society,  as 
defined  by  one  of  its  defenders,  "includes  in  the  first  place,  opposition  to  the  wrong-doing  of 
the  home  authorities  as  regards  native  races,  and  in  the  second  place,  such  opposition  as  it  can 
ofier  with  hope  of  success  to  the  wrong-doing  of  colonists  in  the  same  direction."  This  function 
was   recognized    and    commended  by  the    Marquis    of    Salisbury  in  August,    1875,   when,  as 


20O 


AFRICA   ILLUSTRATED. 


Secretan-  of  State  for  India,  he  declared  that  "in  all  matters  where  conflicting  interests" — 
between  colonists  or  officials  and  natives — "had  to  be  reconciled,  the  operation  of  a  society  like 
the  Aborigines  Protection  Society  mnst  prove  beneficial,  by  disseminating  sound  principles  and 
streno-thenincr  the  hands  of  the  authorities  who  had  to  deal  with  people  in  distant  parts  whose 
interests  came  sharply  into  conflict."  Within  the  last  ten  years,  however,  the  criticisms  of  the 
action  of  this  society  have  been  the  most  severe,  till  one  of  its  latest  assailants  avers  that  "it  would 
be  no  misdescription  to  change  its  name  to  that  of  the  Colonists'  Calumniation  Society."  To 
its  influences  he  ascribes  the  most  serious  Kaffir  wars  of  recent  years  ;  he  blames  it  for  seeking 
and  obtaining  the  partial  release  of  Cetewayo ;  he  declares  that  "the  crowning  disaster  of  the 
Zulu  tragedv  was  brought  about  b\  the  \-ehenient  opposition  to  annexation  offered  by  the 
society,"  etc.,  etc.  Between  such  differences  of  opinion  it  is  difficult  for  those  not  on  the  spot 
to  arrive  at  just  conclusions. 

The  conflicts  between  the  English  and  the  Germans  on  the  east  coast  of  Africa  are  more 
recent  and  much  better  known,  and  here  the  former  have  contrived  to  more  than  hold  their 
own — probably  because  of  the  conclusion  of  the  German  Chancellor  that  the  game  was  not 
worth  the  candle.  On  the  west  coast,  also,  the  British  seem  to  be  bettering  their  new  rivals  in 
the  field  of  colonial  extension — the  possessions  claimed  by  the  latter,  south  of  the  Equator,  are 
in  Namaqua  Land  and  Damara  Land,  the  two  provinces  which  occupy  the  coast  between  Cape 
Colony  and  the  Portuguese  possessions.  A  few  months  ago,  it  was  reported  that  they  were 
preparing  to  sell  out  all  their  rights  and  interests  on  the  south-west  coast  to  the  British ;  now, 
however,  it  is  asserted  that  the  head  chief  of  Damara  has  given  them  notice  to  quit  the  country 
and  go  back  to  Namaqua.  Once  more  in  colonization  the  English  seem  to  have  come  out 
distinctly  ahead. 


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